Community & Business
16 March, 2025
Young man to run 140km for epilepsy
AFTER being diagnosed with epilepsy early last year, a young local has decided to “take on a challenge that’s bigger than himself” by running solo in the Great Wheelbarrow Race.
Bodie Bloore is a young man from Mt Molloy who led a seemingly normal life. He left school after Year 11 to pursue an electrical apprenticeship but ventured off to create his own software engineering business and was striving towards his fitness and career goals.
It wasn’t until he was on holiday with some family early last year when he experienced something that turned his world upside down.
“About this time last year, I was visiting Phillip Island (Victoria) with my family,” he said.
“I was playing a board game called Rummikub, I was just sitting there and then my arms just started jolting.
“I dropped my cup and smashed all my pieces over. So, I went to my room to try and just chill out, then I had a full-blown seizure.
“I turned purple and even dislocated one of my shoulders during it.”
Bodie had experienced his first seizure, but after being taken to the hospital, the doctors couldn’t confirm whether it was epilepsy or something else.
Upon returning to Cairns, he underwent “test, after test, after test” yet doctors were still unable to identify what had caused the seizure.
He lost his drivers license, his independence, and the certainty that he could continue the life he had worked so hard to build.
“Eventually, I had my second seizure when I was travelling in Thailand,” Bodie said.
“I had just finished dinner and was walking down the street, then bang, I had a seizure.
“I dislocated both my shoulders during that one. When I got home, I had to have a 24-hour brain scan. After that they found out I had epilepsy and then from there they were able to actually start to medicate me.”
It was a long and “pretty scary” eight months for Bodie, but he considers himself one of the lucky ones who is responsive to the “life-changing” medication.
“The medication has pretty much cured it for me, which is awesome. I’m honestly so grateful,” he said.
“I’ve been able to do so many more things again, and I wouldn’t be able to do the Wheelbarrow Race without it.”
For some time before his first seizure, Bodie had been experiencing minor “hand jolts” on an irregular basis.
But after his first seizure, “everything just got worse and worse”.
“It had got to the point where it was every day or every second day. My hands, arms and shoulders would start jolting and my mind would go blank, it was pretty scary,” he said.
“Before I was medicated it was a worry for me to hang out with someone, because I kept thinking, ‘Is something going to happen?’, ‘Are they going to judge me if something happens?’, and ‘Are they going to be able to help?’”
The soon to be 19-year-old will be running for the Epilepsy Foundation in the Wheelbarrow race.
“It’s always something I’ve always looked at as being impossible, like there’s no way you can run solo while pushing a wheelbarrow for that long,” he said.
“I don’t even know what it was, I just checked out the website to see if anyone else was doing it solo, and there’d been a few people in the last couple of years.
“So, I was like ‘alright, I can do it’ or at least give it my best shot anyway. I’ve been training really hard, I recently ran an ultra-marathon, which was 50km.
“I’m slowly getting more and more confident in my physical abilities, but I’m mostly focused on improving my mental toughness.
“I’m not very nervous, I just know the pain that’s going to come and I’ve kind of accepted it.
“I just know that I’m not going to quit. They’re going to have to drag me off that track if something happens, because I won’t be walking off there.”
Bodie has raised about $1,800 since launching his campaign on social media, with $600 being raised in the first 48 hours.
“It blew me away to be honest, I did not expect that in the slightest, so hopefully we can keep it going,” he said.
Bodie’s message for anyone living with epilepsy is to “just keep enduring”.
“It sounds pretty weird, but I didn’t think I was a normal person, I thought I was less valuable because I have this condition, but everyone, no matter what, is valuable, and people still love you. You just have to keep pushing and try to live as normal as you can.”
To donate visit:
https://fundraising.epilepsyfoundation.org.au/fundraisers/bodiebloore
