For the Media

National Epilepsy Organization to Honor Therapeutic Device Maker

Star of ABC-TV's Eyes Series Will Headline May 26th NYC Event

Landover, Md., May 18, 2005 -- The Epilepsy Foundation will honor Cyberonics, Inc., the Houston-based therapeutic device maker, and its chairman and CEO, Robert "Skip" Cummins, at a gala benefit May 26, at Pier Sixty at Manhattan's Chelsea Piers. Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, who stars in Eyes, the new ABC television detective series, will emcee the event.

The awards gala is sponsored by the Epilepsy Foundation, the national consumer organization based in metropolitan Washington, D.C., that earlier this month named former U.S. Congressman Tony Coelho as board chairman.

This year's honoree is the developer of vagus nerve stimulation technology, the first new therapeutic form of epilepsy treatment in more than 100 years. The company's chairman, Skip Cummins, has led the Houston-based organization since the product's final development and market introduction nearly 10 years ago.

Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, who will emcee the affair, became a friend of the Foundation last year as a spokesperson for its annual National Epilepsy Awareness Month campaign. Having been touched by the experience and the children she met while taping the epilepsy campaign message, she has agreed to additional volunteer service and will travel from Los Angeles for this event.

The benefit is expected to raise more than $600,000. The proceeds will help support local family services and the Foundation's national research program to find therapeutic answers for people with seizures unresponsive to current treatment and, ultimately, to discover a cure.

Epilepsy affects 2.7 million people in the United States and this year alone another 200,000 will be diagnosed with the disorder. The World Health Organization ranks epilepsy second only to headache (including migraine) among neurological disorders most seen in primary care settings.

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About the Epilepsy Foundation

The Epilepsy Foundation, a national, charitable organization, founded in 1968, is dedicated to supporting children and adults affected by seizures through research, education, advocacy and service. The national office, in Landover, Maryland, supports nearly 60 affiliated Epilepsy Foundations throughout the nation.