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Northwell brain aneurysm walk raises $90K

The Island Now
Brain aneurysm survivors, along with their families and friends, participated in Long Island's 10th annual Brain Aneurysm Awareness Walk, raising $90K

Approximately 1,000 walkers raised $90,000 at Jones Beach State Park at Long Island’s 10th annual Brain Aneurysm Awareness Walk, hosted by Northwell Health’s Brain Aneurysm Center and the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. Proceeds from the walk will go to support essential research at the two organizations. The walk has raised more than $700,000 since its inception.

“This year’s walk was a tremendous success,” said Dr. David Chalif, director of Northwell Health’s Brain Aneurysm Center. “Every year at this event, as I look over the crowd filled with hundreds of patients we have treated, I realize that when we treat a patient with a brain aneurysm, we are taking care of not only the patient, but their whole family. It is a very profound feeling and something we do not take for granted.”

Brain aneurysm survivors, their families and friends attended the milestone event on Sept. 22, led by survivors Steve Calzolano, 59, of Levittown, Tricia Mallardi, 55, of Oyster Bay and Rich Salgado, 52, of New Hyde Park, who each shared their stories.

They were joined on stage by Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, who spoke about the shock and pain of losing a family friend to a brain aneurysm as well as a colleague who survived their health scare.

“It is time to get out of the shadows and help bring awareness,” Curran told the crowd.

Walk participants were reminded of the warning signs of a brain aneurysm: severe headache, nausea, blurred or double vision, stiff neck or neck pain, pain above or behind the eye and loss of sensation. But with so many survivors among the walkers, it’s clear that fast medical intervention can make all the difference.

 

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