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| Gildorf's Walk To Benefit Brain Aneurysm Awareness |
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| ***60-mile winter walk to benefit brain aneurysm
research***
On Monday, December 17, Somerville,
Massachusetts-based writer Ethan Gilsdorf will make a
solo, 60-mile walk in memory of his mother, Sara Lynn
Gilsdorf.
The three-day, wintery walk will take Gilsdorf along
back roads from urban Boston, though Cambridge and
Somerville, and northward to the small, southeastern
New Hampshire town of Lee.
Ten years ago, on December 19, 1997, Sara Gilsdorf
died from complications resulting from a brain
aneurysm which she suffered in 1978, when she was a
Harvard graduate student living in Cambridge.
"My mother's life was cut short," said Gilsdorf. "I'm
hoping this walk will both help me commemorate her,
and bring attention to this dangerous medical
problem."
A brain aneurysm is a weak bulging spot on the wall of
a brain artery very much like a thin balloon or weak
spot on an inner tube. Aneurysms form silently from
wear and tear on the arteries, sometimes can form from
injury or infection, or can be inherited. Brain
aneurysms hemorrhage in about 30,000 Americans each
year. Ten to 15 percent of these patients will die
before reaching the hospital and over 50 percent will
die within the first thirty days after rupture. Of
those who survive, about half suffer some permanent
neurological deficit, like Gilsdorf's mother.
Gilsdorf, 41, will begin the 60 mile journey on
Monday, December 17, departing at 7am from
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (where his
mother was a patient). He'll walk approximately 20
miles per day, and arrive at her hometown and grave
site in Lee on December 19, the ten-year anniversary
of her death.
The walk will benefit the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, a
Boston-based non-profit that provides support and
educational materials to the medical community,
victims, families and general public regarding the
facts, treatment options, and recovery process for
brain aneurysms.
Gilsdorf will be blogging daily about his walk at
http://www.boston.com/travel/blog/
Pledges to sponsor Gilsdorf's walk, which will be
donated to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, can be made
online by visiting http://www.bafound.org/, or by
contacting Gilsdorf at 617-718-7007 or
ethan@ethangilsdorf.com.
More info on the walk: http://www.ethangilsdorf.com/
More info on the Brain Aneurysm Foundation at:
http://www.bafound.org/ |
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Total Donations: $4,019
Goal: $5,000
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