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Light Rain Fog/Mist Turning near-tragedy into triumph
After near-death experience, Wantagh man is raising awareness of brain aneurysms
Earlier this month, Mitchell Smith marked the one-year anniversary of one of the scariest days of his life. Next month, he celebrates his second chance at life.
On Aug. 7, 2014, Smith, 52, of Wantagh, was fishing with his nephew in Reynolds Channel, near Jones Beach. He began to experience the worst headache of his life. “I was having a great day of fishing out on my boat,” said Smith, recalling that in addition to a severe headache, he was nauseous, dizzy and was having trouble standing.
His nephew called 911. They were able to get the boat to land near the theater, where an ambulance was waiting to take Smith to Nassau University Medical Center.
Tests revealed that he had a ruptured brain aneurysm, and he was rushed to North Shore Hospital in Manhasset, where he was treated at North Shore-LIJ’s Brain Aneurysm Center. Dr. David Chalif surgically clipped the aneurysm, which allowed blood to begin flowing normally again around the brain. After the surgery, he spent three weeks in the intensive care unit, much of it with his family by his side.
Smith said he had no warning signs before that day. Now he is devoted to the cause, and that is why he will be a featured speaker at Long Island’s seventh annual Brain Aneurysm Awareness run and walk on Sept. 26 at Jones Beach.
“It’s really a silent killer,” Smith said. “It’s something that people need to be made aware of.”
The event will be hosted by North Shore-LIJ’s Cushing Neuroscience Institute and the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, with the two groups splitting the proceeds for research and education. Dr. Chalif, who organizes the event along with CNI Co-director Dr. Avi Setton, said last year’s run and walk drew about 1,200 people and raised close to $80,000.
Chalif said it is important to have survivors, like Smith, speak at the event. “He represents exactly what our whole program means,” the doctor said. “He’s someone who came in quite sick, got the appropriate treatment. He represents a grand slam home run in this business.”
He stressed the importance of patient and community outreach because, he said, brain aneurysms are an “under the radar” disease. Yet they affect about 50,000 people per year in the United States, and can be fatal.
