Thank you for visiting my fundraising page to help raise awareness of stroke prevention and educate families on the impact of stroke. I am committed to assuring all stroke survivors have access to the knowledge and resources they need to help their families and themselves. It is Nov 9th and I am happy to say I completed the marathon! But I am fundraising through the end of the year. I have raised over $6200.00 and would like to reach $8-10,000.00.

In Sept 2006, I suffered a stroke at the age of 46 and lost use of my left side.  As a mother, business owner and caregiver to my elderly mother, we were all affected by my inability to care for others and myself. It was at this time that I learned more women are affected by a stroke than breast cancer!  I thought  that when I am more functional that I will use my skills to help improve education of stroke prevention to women.  During the past two years, I had to focus on my own rehabilitation but I am ready to take the next step and help raise awareness nationally. What a better way than to complete a marathon and help raise awareness through the National Stroke Association! On November 1st, 2009, I committed to complete the NY marathon in support of the National Stroke Association. As of June, I could not complete 3 miles without stopping. I worked my way to completing 20 miles in training. It is not pretty to watch but I am jogging/walking/shuffling longer than I dreamed possible!

It has been a long and at sometimes humbling journey. It has been painful physically and emotionally to not regain all my mobility, strength and an ongoing challenge to keep positive 100% of the time but with the support of others I have regained about 90% of my mobility. Rehab is an ongoing part of my life today and will be for the rest of my life.  But I only need to think of my children, husband, family. friends and other stroke survivors to give me strength.

I am determined to continue my effort to help educate other women about stroke and provide resources for families. Children of stroke survivors also need emotional support and help during this medical crisis for a parent. These resources are limited and not all stroke survivors have access to the latest technologies and therapy to help them regain a high quality of life or assure their loved ones have the support they need.   .

Donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts. I would like to raise $10,000.00 to help the National Stroke Association which was a valuable resource to my family and me during the past 2 1/2 years.

Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too! I will be starting a blog and have a facebook page in the next week too. Thank you for your consideration of my request!

Katie