Chili cook-off on Jan. 7 supports family with severely epileptic son

Dec. 28, 2017 | Debbie Gardner

debbieg@thereminder.com

ENFIELD and SOMERS, CT. – Ed Rattell and his wife Annemarie aren’t used to being on the receiving end of a fundraiser. As parents of a nine-year old son with intractable epilepsy – which means the boy’s often hour-long seizures are not controlled with medication – the Rattells are more accustomed to raising money to help find a cure for their son.

“For the last six years me and my wife have participated in the Epilepsy Foundation of Connecticut’s Mud Volleyball Tournament – part of my self-therapy in dealing with my son’s condition was forming Tommy’s Team with a group of friends,” Rattell said.

The team has raised over $10,000 for epilepsy research so far. Tommy, Rattell added, began having seizures in 2011, when he was just two and one-half years old.

But the cost of Tommy’s medical care – which includes nine pills a day to try and control his epilepsy and the severe ADHD symptoms that go “hand in hand” with his condition – is equally daunting. Even with good health insurance, Rattell said the family typically goes through $5,000 in their flexible health savings account every year, and both parents often have to take time off for work for post-seizure care or doctor’s appointments. Though both have good jobs – Annemarie is a nurse at Hartford Hospital and Ed works in the Enfield warehouse for Advanced Auto Parts – and they and Tommy’s six-year old sister now live in the same house with Annemarie’s parents to help with childcare, the family has been “living paycheck to five to six days before paycheck for several years.”

To help the family start 2018 on a more secure financial footing, Michael Freedman, a local fundraiser coordinator for the International Chili Society, has planned a Chili Cook-off fundraiser for the Rattells on Jan. 7, 2018 at the Somers Fire Department, 400 Main St., Somers, Ct.

Dubbed “Chili for Life 2018,” the event will run from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission will be $8 per person, with children seven years of age and younger admitted free. Freedman told Reminder Publications by the day of the event he “should have 25 to 30 cooks from as far away as Maryland and Maine” participating in the cook-off. All proceeds will go to the family. The Law Offices of John Haymond of Springfield are an event sponsor.

Friedman, who has organized the New England Regional Chili Cook-off – one of the largest in New England and second largest in the U. S. for the past six years – said he was approached to run the fundraiser for the Rattells by one of his chili cooks, Atty. Deborah Roberge of Springfield, Massachusetts. Freedman said Roberge called him up and said “let me tell you about this kid.”

Rattell said Roberge knows about his son, Tommy, because both she and his family attend the Karate Integrity Martial Arts Studio in Enfield.

Freedman said after talking with the Rattells, he was onboard with putting on the fundraiser, even though he only had a little over two weeks to pull it together.

“Chili cooks are known for wanting to help others,” Freedman said. “Here’s a little boy with a medical issue and his family is struggling, how can you not want to help him?”

Rattell said he is still somewhat stunned by the attention and offer of help.

“We don’t feel we deserve it. We’re not doing anything that any other parent would not do for their child," he said.