Category: Strength

KAT-Walk and Karo-5K Run for Maine Brain Aneurysm Awareness

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Lace up your walking and running shoes and join us for the KAT-Walk & Karo-5K for Maine Brain Aneurysm Awareness. This annual event benefits the Brain Aneurysm Foundation in their efforts to support early detection, education, fund research and create awareness about
brain aneurysms.

A brain aneurysm is a weak bulge on the wall of an artery in the brain and can catastrophically rupture. Up to 1 in 50 people in the U.S. will develop a brain aneurysm during their lifetime and each year about 30,000 people will suffer a ruptured brain aneurysm. Almost half of the victims will die and of those surviving, only a third will recover without disabilities.

This year’s event will be held on Saturday, September 15, 2012, around the Back Cove Boulevard in Portland, Maine. The event starts at 11:30 a.m. on the pathway across from the Hannaford Plaza and the walk & run will take place at 1pm. The whole family is invited for a leisurely walk or to enter the timed 5K run. A Silent Auction, 50/50 raffle and many new attractions will make this a special day.

The KAT-Walk originated in memory of Kimberly Ann Tudor, a Portland native, Deering HS and UNE graduate and athlete, who lost her life to a sudden brain aneurysm in December 2008. The Karo-5K is in memory of Karolina A. Kurka, a Scarborough HS and UNH graduate who passed away from an undetected brain aneurysm in July 2011.

September is Maine Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month. Join us as we “share our tears, remember with love, walk & run to honor” those families affected by this silent killer and help save lives!

More information about the event can be found at: MaineBA.org or find us on Facebook at: KAT-Walk.

It’s Brain Aneurysm Awareness Week

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Hello, I’m Heidi and I’m a survivor. I’m one of the lucky ones. The statistics are quite sobering and I am trying to do my part in raising brain aneurysm awareness this week.

A diagnosis of an aneurysm isn’t necessarily a death sentence, nor should it be viewed as a “ticking time bomb”. I would think a person should consider themselves lucky. Lucky that it was discovered. Lucky that they have options. Lucky that THEY have the power to do something and lucky to be alive. The medical procedures available today allow a person to LIVE with an aneurysm, not necessarily die because of one. Those are much better statistics.

Understanding the signs and symptoms (if you have any) as well as diagnosis with early screening are vital to survival.

I have two first cousins who had aneurysms. If I had been more informed to the risks of hereditary aneurysms, I may have found my aneurysm before it ruptured. I now have another aneurysm, but I know so much more as a result of the first one that I have a fighting chance….but only because I survived the initial rupture.

Like I said…I’m one of the lucky ones. Please help us raise awareness.

Christmas Memory

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As I was finishing up wrapping Christmas gifts for Dave and I today, I was reminded of five years ago and how frustrating Christmas was for me. Yes, I was thankful I was alive, but I was frustrated because I couldn’t enjoy Christmas like I previously had.

Just wrapping gifts was exhausting and I most certainly wouldn’t have been able to wrap gifts all afternoon like I did today. A simple task for most, but at that time, two months after my rupture, it was daunting…and frustrating.

I look back now on my blog entry from that year (2006), and have to smile because I’ve come so far since that day and I am so lucky to be here wrapping gifts at all.

For those of you still struggling, don’t give up. It WILL get better. Baby steps. Just take it day by day and celebrate the small victories…like getting ONE gift wrapped. You’re doing great!

Happy 5th Annie-Versary to Me!

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Open this entry to view my anniversary video.

5th Annie-Versary