Health ALERT:Brain aneurysms - the silent killer that affects 1 in 15 Americans with NATALIE NIEKRO

Natalie Niekro, President of "The Joe Niekro Foundation"
All too often, life throws us a pitch we aren’t prepared to catch. For Natalie Niekro, that curve ball came October 26, 2006, just four weeks before the fairytale wedding she’d been dreaming of all her life. On that day, Natalie’s father, a former major league knuckleball pitcher, Joe Niekro, suffered an unexpected and what would turn out to be a life devastating brain aneurysm. With her world turned upside-down, Natalie channeled her sadness, anger and frustration into her new life’s mission: Combating the enemy that prematurely took father. Leaving a successful career in the corporate world behind, Natalie started The Joe Niekro Foundation…Knuckling Up for Aneurysm Research, a 501 c-3 organization committed to awareness, research, treatment and education of brain aneurysms - the silent killer that affects 1 in 15 Americans.

With over $2 million raised to date, The Joe Niekro Foundation has created strong partnerships with Major League Baseball, multi-million dollar corporations and hospitals across the country. The Joe Niekro Foundation PSA’s have received nationwide coverage as television stations across the continent are “Knuckling Up” and joining in the fight against aneurysms. In honor of Joe Niekro, several of the Major League Baseball teams will feature Brain Aneurysm Awareness Day this upcoming season and The Joe Niekro Lectureship and Symposium on Early Detection and Treatment of Cerebral Aneurysms will take place this winter.