MENDON, N.Y. — Epilepsy is a silent disability that 3 million people in this country live with. One local high school student has made it his mission to raise awareness about the condition.

Nearly 200 people lined up Sunday morning at Mendon Ponds Park, all ready to race for a good cause.

The Seize the Day epilepsy trail run was organized by Amer Armbruster. He’s a junior at Honeoye Falls-Lima high school and loves being active with his friends. He is also living with epilepsy.

“It’s sort of a silent disability," said race volunteer Tracy Taylor. "So people don’t necessarily see it unless they see the event, so they don’t understand the impact it has on people's lives and on the families' lives."

Armbruster wanted to raise money for Empowering People’s Independence or EPI. It’s a local agency that helps people with epilepsy.

“It’s great to see somebody finding a way to handle their situation and to work through things in life," said Jeff Sinsebox, EPI executive director. "For us as an agency, it's really important that we fund all of our epilepsy programs really with donor dollars and this will help us provide a lot of services to a lot of people.”

Dozens of people participated in either a 5k or 10k run throughout the park, including Amer and his family.

“It’s really nice seeing the community come together and support a wonderful cause," Taylor said.

The race raised $60,000 for EPI.

Amer hopes to make it an annual event until he leaves for college.