The organization raising awareness and funds for epilepsy care and research in Montana received over $119,500 in donations July 16
By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
Editor’s note: Explore Big Sky is published by Outlaw Partners, the producer of Big Sky PBR.
Fans wore violet shirts, bandanas and pins for Purple Night, the first night of Big Sky PBR where, by sunset, attendees had raised over $119,500 for the Epilepsy Foundation of Montana.
Eric Ladd, Explore Big Sky’s publisher and founder of Outlaw Partners, was compelled to highlight the foundation in the weekend’s programming after his son had his first seizure in 2025.
“We all got a journey, we all got a story, and ours began about a year-and-a-half ago when my little man over here, who’s growing up now, he got real sick, and had a really bad seizure, and these people standing to my right saved his life,” Ladd said, gesturing to Gallatin County Sheriff and Big Sky Fire Department first responders. Epilepsy Foundation members, also wearing purple, the color of the disease’s awareness campaign, listened from a platform above the bulls. Ladd said the support of the foundation has helped his son and his family over the past year.
Purple Night was a rally to support the organization and raise awareness for the neurological disease, of which 3.4 million Americans suffer from, according to the foundation. In an interview with EBS, Sarah Klein, Epilepsy Foundation’s national chief engagement officer, noted that one in 26 people will be diagnosed with epilepsy.
“It’s incredibly common,” Klein said. “So many people have epilepsy and don’t talk about it, don’t tell their friends or tell their neighbors that they live with epilepsy or their kid lives with epilepsy … if you have epilepsy, you’re not alone.”
Jessica Veach, regional executive director of the foundation in Montana, Nevada and Utah, explained her perspective as someone living with epilepsy. She highlighted that there’s a stigma around the condition.
“People don’t talk about it as much as they do any other condition,” Veach said. “So just to have it here in the spotlight, have people saying, ‘Purple, why are you wearing purple?’—This is such a huge, huge moment for us to stop the stigma and get people to understand.”
In Montana, the foundation hopes to make schools safer for people and students who suffer from seizures by requiring seizure first aid training. Twenty-six states in the U.S. adopted legislation that the foundation calls Seizure Safe Schools, requiring teachers and staff be trained in seizure first-aid. State Sen. Cora Neumman is working with the foundation to present the bill in the upcoming legislative session.
“ We want every kid who goes to school in this state to know … that if they had a seizure in the classroom, there would be somebody who understands what’s happening and is ready to take action,” Veach said.
Vanessa Ferguson, a Billings resident and foundation board member emphasized the importance of legislation that supports people with seizures.
“I think it’s really important that the Seizure Safe Schools initiative gets passed … because there’s so many parents that have pulled their kids out of school because they don’t feel safe having them there,” Ferguson said. Living with the condition herself, she helps organize events in Billings to raise awareness and money for the foundation. She also advocates for legislation in Washington D.C. that would support people with epilepsy, but benefit every person with a disability.
Epilepsy Foundation events’ benefits are two fold: they support the organization’s initiative and bring together people with epilepsy and their families and caregivers.
“You’ve got this network of people who can support you and walk that journey with you,” Klein said. Veach pointed out all the programs people can find on the foundation’s website. Toolkits online allow anyone to learn how to identify and respond to seizures, educating the broader community about how to look out for signs of the condition in their day-to-day lives.
Before the first of three nights of bull riding commenced at the Big Sky Events Arena, Ladd noted the importance of first responders’ work in supporting his family and the community, as well as the Big Sky Medical Center. At the Dick Allgood Bingo Night, $25,000 was raised for Gallatin County Search and Rescue. After awarding checks to the SAR and then to the Epilepsy Foundation, Ladd thanked the audience and community for their support on Purple Night.
“ I look out and I see so many of you in purple and purple ribbons and purple bandanas, and all these riders wearing purple,” Ladd said. “And it just touches my heart beyond belief that all the sadness that we’ve had and all the people that we’ve met with this horrible, horrible disease—it can give them a little hope.”
