UPDATE: Heroes’ Greg Grunberg’s charitable cause for his son

Update: Greg has also created a Heroes Artwork Auction, where people canbid on autographed collector’s edition artwork from the show. Moreinformation can be found here. Eric R. Hargis, president and CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation, says of the auction,

We are thankful that Greg Grunberg, inspired by his own real-lifehero, his son Jake, who has epilepsy, has joined with us to increaseawareness of epilepsy. With the help of Greg, those like him, andpartners like NBC, we can end the stigma associated with epilepsy inthis generation.

Meanwhile, the First National Walk for Epilepsy, chaired by Greg yesterday, was declared a success with a 5,000-plus person turnout and raised more than one million dollars.

CBB reader Tracy also directs us to Greg’s charity, the Pediatric Epilepsy Project at UCLA, and the celebrity-made cards available for purchase that will benefit the cause.

Source: Superhero Flix

Originally posted Friday, March 30: Heroes‘ Greg Grunberg is chairing the National Walk for Epilepsy tomorrow for the Epilepsy Foundation, an organization that is close to his heart. Greg’s oldest son, Jake, 11, suffers from the condition, and the actor has always had an active role in raising awareness and funds for the disease. More information about the National Walk for Epilepsy and Greg’s role can be found here. He tells TV Guide of how his gig came about,

I’ve got my own charity in L.A. called Pediatric Epilepsy Project, and the Epilepsy Foundation has a magazine and they did a story on me and Jake, and out of that, I said, ‘Look, anything you have on a national level, I’d love to do.’ It’s really to get the word out to end the stigma that’s attached to epilepsy. There’s just a stigma and it’s understandable — seizures are a scary thing. My wife [Elizabeth] and I deal with it every day, and obviously it’s scarier for Jake than anyone else.

Greg says Jake is doing well and hasn’t let epilepsy hinder any extracurricular activities.

It’s week-to-week. He has all kinds of seizures, but if you met him, you’d never know he has epilepsy. He’s almost a black belt in tae kwon do, he’s an all-star baseball player, and he’s great at school. He just has these setbacks — these earthquakes — and he has them every day. But he doesn’t let that define him or stop him from doing anything.

Still, the star admits it’s difficult for the family, which also includes sons Sam, 7, and Ben, 3, at times, but they continue to remain positive.

Trust me, we break down, we scream, we yell, we cry, and that’s part of dealing with it, too, but at the same time, we’ve got three kids, and his brothers are a great support system for him. We all try to be as optimistic as possible.

Another avenue for Greg to raise money for his charity is through Band from TV, his rock star group – literally. The band is a charitable group that donates the money it makes to various organizations and is made up of current and past television stars, including Desperate Housewives‘ James Denton and House’s Hugh Laurie, inspiring Sam to come up with a new name.

Sam, our 7-year-old, came up with a really good name for the band. He’s like, ‘You should call yourselves the Desperate House of Heroes.’

Source: TV Guide

Does your family have any experience with epilepsy?