For seven years, Microsoft’s Hackathon has sparked new opportunities and given employees the creative space to champion innovative solutions and ideas that can make a difference and solve critical problems. MirrorHR is here to accomplish just that, to achieve a vast mission of helping families cope with the daily hardships brought on by epilepsy. One employee’s personal story inspired a group of worldwide employees to collaborate on the MirrorHR project during the Microsoft Global Hackathon, a project further cultivated in The Microsoft Garage Residency program, where core members of the MirrorHR team worked on it full-time for a dedicated six months in true startup fashion. MirrorHR is a working app providing support to manage the challenges that families living with epilepsy experience.

Francesca Fedeli and Roberto D’Angelo are the co-founders of FightTheStroke, a nonprofit founded in 2014 that supports the cause of young stroke survivors and children with cerebral palsy, like their son, Mario. He was born in 2011 and ten days after his birth, Mario experienced a perinatal stroke on the right side of his brain. According to the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, it’s estimated that 1 in 4 kids diagnosed with cerebral palsy also develop epilepsy. The nonprofit created the MirrorHR project and, since Roberto is a Microsoft employee, he brought the idea to the Microsoft Global Hackathon. With the help of employees during Hackathon, and six months in the Residency program, MirrorHR was brought to life as a mobile app solution called “MirrorHR – Epilepsy Research Kit.” Its prime focus is to help struggling families and caregivers of children who suffer from seizures related to epilepsy.

FightTheStroke.org gathers and shares the experiences of families living with epilepsy, as a result of stroke and cerebral palsy. Epilepsy is a neurological condition characterized by unpredictable seizures that impacts millions of people and their families. Mario’s parents never gave up hope. With countless nights of exhaustion, they were determined to build solutions to improve their son’s quality of life. They wanted to mirror a normal life for Mario, themselves, and their family. For families with young children living with epilepsy, the anxiety of their child experiencing nighttime seizures robs parents of their sleep and peace of mind. On a 24-hour basis, families are concerned with trips to the emergency room from seizures that could potentially have lasting damage and trauma.