Jordan’s Guardian Angels is proud to announce the winner of the 1st annual Shine Like Ozzie Scholarship.
Our scholarship recipient is Mireya Rahman of Texas Christian University!
Mireya is studying to be an MD and is currently involved in two studies, in Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy through The University of Texas at Arlington and TCU School of Medicine/Cook Children’s Hospital respectively.
“Being on the forefront of research into fields largely misunderstood provides great potential to pave the way for future patients when it comes to lessening the burden of their diagnosis through medical intervention as well as social normalization,” said Rahman.
This $1,000 scholarship is for a student (undergraduate or postgraduate) studying anything related to Epilepsy. This year, in its infancy, the Shine like Ozzie Scholarship had 15 applicants which is above and beyond anything Jordan’s Guardian Angels anticipated. We are so very grateful the rare disease community came together to spread the word and apply.
Many members of our Jordan’s Syndrome community suffer from Epilepsy and debilitating seizures. That’s why research on Epilepsy is so important to us. It’s why we have joined the Rare Epilepsy Network, a partnership we are immensely proud of.
Most importantly, this scholarship is in loving memory of Ozzie Deason and all the other children our community has lost. Ozzie lost his life last year after a battle with Epilepsy and Jordan’s Syndrome.
“The Shine like Ozzie scholarship is extremely meaningful to our family for so many reasons. Epilepsy ravaged our daily lives and stole so much from Ozzie, and we understand how critical it is for families to find the appropriate Epilepsy care,” said Leah Deason, Ozzie’s Mom. “We are overjoyed to know this scholarship will go toward training Epilepsy focused doctors which the Epilepsy community desperately needs. We hope that Ozzie’s story will fuel the desire to help other children like him and be a guiding light in educating others on the importance of ending Epilepsy.”
We hope to continue this tradition for years to come with new applications open annually on Ozzie’s Birthday. May his light and the light of all of our children forever shine.