Wake Up Nashville! Celebrates City's Music Culture, Spreads Narcolepsy Awareness with NASCAR's Erik Jones

NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 2, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the fourth consecutive year, Wake Up Nashville! takes center stage in Music City to celebrate Nashville's renowned music culture and to spread greater awareness about narcolepsy. This devastating, lifelong sleep disease affects 200,000 Americans and millions worldwide. Host Wake Up Narcolepsy (WUN) (www.wakeupnarcolepsy.org), a nonprofit narcolepsy advocacy foundation, once again brings to the iconic Bridge Building an all-star evening featuring Country Music legends and emerging songwriters, and welcomes renowned narcolepsy medical experts and people with narcolepsy. 

And again this year, Wake Up Nashville! will crown the winner of its annual Songwriting Contest, with judging by Jerry Duncan Promotions, which has promoted over 65 Billboard Magazine #1 hits. Winners from past contests are now writing on Music Row.

The entertainment line-up includes Soul Incision, a well-known band of medical experts from Nashville, with the Born Sisters, Nick Wing, and the 2014 Songwriting Contest winner.

Trent Strobel, a student with narcolepsy at Bellarmine University, in Louisville, KY, said, "I'm especially excited for this year's event because Erik Jones, the young NASCAR driving sensation, is making time in his busy schedule to stop by and show support. This expands our awareness to young people more than ever before. By increasing the number of people our message reaches, the more informed the public will be, thus shortening the time it takes to achieve an accurate diagnosis, which today is around 6 years."

"I'm thrilled and honored to help WUN raise narcolepsy awareness," said Jones. "The more I learn about this terrible sleep disease, the more I want to become involved with Wake Up Narcolepsy."

"It's great when celebrities like Erik and Ginger Zee get involved. Ginger is ABC News Good Morning America's meteorologist, who has narcolepsy and support WUN's awareness outreach," added Tabitha Crawford, event chair. "Their support for this and other WUN events provides a way for people who don't know the symptoms of narcolepsy or other sleeping disorders to make the connection more quickly."   

People with narcolepsy are invited to attend Wake Up Nashville! FREE, and other guests may attend for only $40 each. Tickets at www.wakeupnarcolepsy.org. Wake Up Nashville! also enables people with narcolepsy to meet others living with the disorder and find support in their local areas, learn about treatment options, and receive free Healing Touch therapy.

Wake Up Narcolepsy is a nonprofit organization working to speed narcolepsy diagnosis through greater awareness, and to and support medical research seeking a cure. This disabling sleep disorder, characterized by overwhelming daytime sleepiness and other debilitating symptoms, first strikes most often in the teenage years and can affect the sufferer's self-esteem, educational and career performance, and social and family relationships. There is no cure. Learn more about WUN at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM3T3KheuTo

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SOURCE Wake Up Narcolepsy