‘That’s what made the difference:’ St Johns County teen hoping to reach Epilepsy fundraiser goal.

If you walk into the Luttrell home, you can expect to see a sea of purple, and not in the way you may expect.

Kasey Luttrell and her mother have hand crafted at least 100 purple, felt pumpkins.

“This year, I just wanted to just stitch pumpkins this way they were a little more unique,” Kasey said.

It’s part of the ‘Purple Pumpkin Project’ and it benefits the Epilepsy Foundation.

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The color and meaning behind the project is one that hits close to home for the Luttrell family.

“Epilepsy was something I always knew I had,” Kasey said.

She has thankfully been seizure free for the last six years, and is heading to college next fall. But, her brother has a different story.

“Unfortunately, he’s much more profoundly affected than she is,” Kat Luttrell, her mother, said. “He has a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome. Part of the difference in their outcomes is he wasn’t properly diagnosed until he was nine.”

His hundreds of seizures have left him non-verbal and permanently disabled.

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“This is one of the reasons we wanted to do the project,” Kat said. “That knowledge, width of the research that the epilepsy foundation helps to fund, that’s what made the difference between how she’s [Kasey] doing and how my son’s doing.”

Kasey goes to Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns County and asked to host a fundraiser at the school on October 27, so she could sell the pumpkins. She said she was in contact with ‘Crafts for a Cause’ club president at school.

“I was under the impression that that this was ok and I went there [the school club] several times for multiple weeks to the club sponsor,” Kasey explained. “I texted the president of the club several times and everything seemed to be going well, ‘til Monday, I was told I didn’t have a form that I was needing.”

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Her mother emailed the school’s assistant principal regarding the incident. Part of the email response reads, “please know that the school did not refuse to support her efforts. The introduction to the teacher sponsor of a club that seemed like a good fit for her was the first step in trying to support her. From there she would have to attend club meetings, bring up the idea to the club, get the club on board with the idea, and then work with the club on all of the rest of the details.” Another section of the email explained, “[the teacher] certainly isn’t against the idea of the Purple Pumkin Project, but the idea would have to have been brought up at a club meeting. If there was enough interest the club could take on a project like this and would work together on creating a budget, completing the fundraising paperwork, working out all of the logistics details, and working together to make all of the pumpkins.”

Action News Jax, Meghan Moriarty, reached out to the St. Johns County school district for comment, and she is waiting to hear back.

“We’ve spent many evenings, weekends, watching movies, making these pumpkins, and seeing her put her heart and soul into it and the way she got told at the last minute what happened… it just definitely didn’t feel right,” Kat said. “It should have been handled better than it was.”

Now, the family is looking for a new way to hold their fundraiser or at least meet their fundraising goal of $1,000. For every $10 donation, you can receive a purple pumpkin.

“Having the pumpkin, maybe talking about it [Epilepsy] a bit more could really help out with the situation and do a lot of good,” Kasey said. “People could hold onto [the pumpkin] and make sure the message got out there a bit more.”

If you’re interested in donating you can visit Kasey’s fundraising page.

If you want to pick up your pumpkin, you can email KL5@verizon.net

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