Kensley’s Krew: Vineyard girl with epilepsy organizing yard sale to raise funds in fight against the condition
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- Kensley Blackwell is pictured Thursday, June 5, 2025, standing at a table filled with items prepared to be purchased at her upcoming yard sale, happening Saturday, June 7, 2025.
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- The Blackwell Family is pictured at the Epilepsy Foundation Utah’s Walk to End Epilepsy event in 2024.
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- The Blackwell Family is shown in an undated photo.
In just a single conversation with Kensley Blackwell, one can sense her intelligence and a passion to help others who are dealing with the same affliction that she’s battled for the past six years.
The 13-year-old Vineyard girl was diagnosed with epilepsy shortly before her seventh birthday.
It’s a reality that her father says their family has taken head on, but in the midst of the challenges, Kensley wanted to find ways to use her creativity and help support local epilepsy research.
“My daughter wanted to do something to raise money to donate to the foundation to help research to find a cure for epilepsy,” Spencer Blackwell said.
The Epilepsy Foundation Utah holds its Walk to End Epilepsy annually in June. The event aims to raise awareness and funds to support your epilepsy community. As this year’s event approaches, Kensley has been selling homemade pillowcases after getting sewing lessons from her grandmother. She’s also been selling baking goods and collecting donations from the community.
“So she’s organizing a garage sale of our own stuff,” Spencer Blackwell said. “But then also she’s been putting it out (to others) on Facebook and in the neighborhood groups … saying, ‘Hey, I’m 13 and I want to do this (yard sale),’ asking if anybody has any donations.”
Kensley’s ambition to head up the yard sale — set for Saturday — is a testament to her battle with epilepsy, as she refuses to let the disability keep her down.
“So epilepsy has been, like, hard most of the time and it’s been annoying,” she said.
Some of the challenges Kensley said she deals with living with epilepsy include not being able to go to sleepovers or camps without someone with her.
However, she tries to ignore the obstacles and focuses on living the best way she knows how.
“When I’m out and about with friends, I kind of just try to ignore it … most of the time, and try to live life like a normal 13-year-old,” Kensley told the Daily Herald.
Her fight with the affliction isn’t an unusual one.
Kensley was diagnosed with absence seizures, a form of epilepsy that causes short bursts of short seizures that happen without warning and usually last for a few seconds, according to doctors at Cleveland Clinic.
The diagnosis is common in children, but adults can have absence seizures, too. Absence seizures are often mistaken for daydreaming or a lack of attention.
In Utah, more than 30,000 people are living with epilepsy, and over 3 million people across the United States have epilepsy. Around 450,000 of the diagnoses are among children and teens under the age of 17.
Despite the disorder, Kensley’s family said she has handled it with strength and courage. The Blackwells and a team of supporters who are part of “Kensley’s Krew” have participated in the annual Walk to End Epilepsy at Wheeler Farm in Murray for the past couple of years and are looking forward to doing it again June 21.
“We all go together and walk and hang out. … It’s super fun,” Kensley said.
As part of the event, she’s hoping to raise $1,000 from previous donations, sales of her pillowcases and the upcoming yard sale that will go toward research at the Epilepsy Foundation Utah.
As of Thursday, Kensley is making the final preparations to ensure she’s ready to sell lots of items.
“Our house is a mess because we’re trying to get it all organized,” she said. “But I do it with my mom, and it’s really fun.”
They are also doing a bake sale, making lemonade and selling other refreshments and snacks at the yard sale.
Kensley said this is important to her because it serves as a way to offer support and comfort for people her age or older who also suffer from epilepsy.
“I want to try to make sure that other people know that you’re not alone and that I’m trying to help by finding a cure,” she said.
The yard sale will be held Saturday at their home located at 51 N. English Road in Vineyard from 7:30-11 a.m.
