{"id":297175,"date":"2026-07-15T23:58:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/297175\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T23:58:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:58:38","slug":"joanna-sophia-fun-run-walk-hosts-successful-7th-annual-event-in-queens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/297175\/","title":{"rendered":"Joanna Sophia Fun Run\/Walk Hosts Successful 7th Annual Event in Queens"},"content":{"rendered":"

QUEENS \u2013 On June 20, the Joanna Sophia Foundation hosted its 7th Annual Joanna Sophia Fun Run\/Walk Around the World for Epilepsy & SUDEP Awareness in Queens, New York, drawing nearly 3,000 participants for its signature fundraising and awareness event.<\/p>\n

In just seven years, the Foundation has created a lasting impact, donating more than a quarter of a million dollars toward epilepsy and SUDEP research and over $100,000 to assist families caring for children with epilepsy.<\/p>\n

The Joanna Sophia Foundation continues to extend its global reach, with awareness efforts spanning North America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, including events from the United States, Tanzania, Cyprus, and live broadcast in India, bringing greater attention to epilepsy and SUDEP awareness worldwide.<\/p>\n

National and local epilepsy organizations including CURE Epilepsy, the Danny Did Foundation, and the Mark Shaparin Foundation were present in support of the event and the mission of awareness in which they share.<\/p>\n

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This annual event aims to honor the late Joanna Sophia Ioannou, who tragically passed away in her sleep from SUDEP. (Photo: Courtesy of the Joanna Sophia Foundation)<\/p>\n

The family-friendly day featured a 5K race, children\u2019s activities, giant inflatables, amusement rides, entertainment, food, and community programming focused on epilepsy awareness and support.<\/p>\n

Local schools also participated in the annual event, including one of the largest Catholic High schools in the country \u2013 St Francis Preparatory \u2013 which had their cheerleading team there to cheer the runners and walkers on.<\/p>\n

This annual event aims to honor the late Joanna Sophia Ioannou, who tragically passed away in her sleep from SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death In Epilepsy) seven years ago, while also raising awareness for epilepsy.<\/p>\n

Speaking to TNH, Maria Teresa Ioannou, the mother of Joanna, reflected on this year\u2019s turnout, as well as how she felt to host another successful year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe turnout was amazing \u2013 it was really wonderful,\u201d Ioannou told TNH.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy because every year we kind of contemplate, do we do this again? \u2013 because it\u2019s a lot of work, but I\u2019m very grateful for all the volunteers we have who help put it together because it\u2019s a lot to ask for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we just feel like maybe it\u2019s run its course, and so we\u2019re always contemplating hosting it again, but this year, my older daughters, who are 20 and 18, and Joanna would have been 17\u2026 they said to me, \u2018Mom, you don\u2019t realize the lives you\u2019re touching.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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This year\u2019s event drew in around 3000 people. (Photo: Courtesy of the Joanna Sophia Foundation)<\/p>\n

Ioannou then reflected on a moment which made her realize the impact this event has had on people, after seeing a couple of young girls spot the sign for the annual Fun Run\/Walk and then ask questions about when the event was.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the girls was like, \u2018oh yeah, that was an event for that girl, Joanna,\u2019 and then the other asked \u2018oh, who\u2019s that?\u2019 and then the girl said \u2018she passed away in her sleep, she had SUDEP, its sudden death in epilepsy, one in 26 have epilepsy\u2019\u2026and then this girl just started throwing out these facts, and to me, it made me realize \u2013 oh my God, I really have done this,\u201d she expressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really have made people understand more, and it\u2019s not just a run that people are just getting bothered with from the traffic that we cause \u2013 it\u2019s actually something that is affecting people\u2019s lives and their love and they\u2019re enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing that really was a turnaround for me to be like, you know what?, even if one day we do decide to stop, we did what we wanted to do, which was to keep her memory alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The family-friendly day featured a 5K race, children\u2019s activities, giant inflatables, amusement rides, entertainment, food, and community programming focused on epilepsy awareness and support. (Photo: Courtesy of the Joanna Sophia Foundation)<\/p>\n

As an event Ioannou and her family love to host every year, even though it is emotional for them too, she explained how it is a community favorite that unites everyone of all ages and physical abilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now eight years later [since Joanna passed away], and we have new people that come about, but we also have all the original people come along who have been participating since day one, so it\u2019s just so beautiful to see,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I really am happy to see the kindness and the love that I see from all these people that are there. Yes, it\u2019s because it\u2019s a cute event and people come and they enjoy it, but they\u2019re also doing it for a cause, which is just really nice to know that in a world where everyone on social media says that the new generation is just terrible, that there actually are really good people out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria Teresa Ioannou additionally noted how she and her family look forward to hosting the eighth annual Joanna Sophia Fun Run\/Walk Around the World for Epilepsy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"QUEENS \u2013 On June 20, the Joanna Sophia Foundation hosted its 7th Annual Joanna Sophia Fun Run\/Walk Around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-297175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}