Student raises awareness of brain aneurysms

A local teenager is hoping to bring awareness to an important issue. She said her mother had no idea she had problem, but on a trip to Alaska her mother, Marta, died suddenly because of it.

“At the time I didn’t really know what it was,” said 13-year-old Mariana Leon. “I just kind of thought it was something wrong with her head, or she fell down or she had a stroke, but it was a lot more than that.”

It was a brain aneurysm. According to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, one in 50 people has an aneurysm that can rupture at any time. Symptoms include localized headaches, pain above and behind an eye and blurred or double vision.

If an aneurysm ruptures, it is deadly about 40 percent of the time, and two thirds of people who survive have long-term effects. You can be checked with an MRI, CT or other type of brain scan, and that’s what Mariana is hoping for.

“If there was somebody like me before my mom died, maybe we would have gotten that checked out and she could have survived,” she said. “Through this I’ve found an outlet.”

Mariana is holding a fundraising event for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation Saturday, Feb. 7 from 6-8 p.m. at the Juniper Hills Country Club in Pocatello. Dinner is $25 for adults and $10 for students.

There will also be a silent auction, DJ and a candy bar, which Mariana said is like a salad bar, but with candy. After dinner costs, all money raised will go to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. A neurosurgeon will be on hand to discuss brain aneurysms and Mariana will tell her story.

Mariana said there is a website to donate: bit.ly/1yRKHbI. She said her original goal was $1,000 and that has already been exceeded.

“I’m just really happy I have an opportunity to do this with all my friends and family,” she said. “I’m just really happy with the response I’ve gotten.”