'I Never Got to Say Goodbye'

senior Lindsey-Leigh Maiuri is fighting a monster _ and she wants your help as she walks June 24 in Hawaii to honor her family.

Here is her touching story, in her own words:

“I’m training to walk a 13.3-mile marathon with my older sister to help the American Stroke Association, in memory of my father, Wayne Maiuri, and in honor of my mother, Janet Maiuri, and my stepfather’s brother, Bob Harris.

If you don't know my story with the monster you should, because it will help you understand why I am walking the marathon with my older sister in June.

In 2009 my father was struck by the monster we call stroke. It was not the first, or the last time it would bite him. After about a week of fighting with a series of preceding strokes, the monster took him from us.

I never got to say goodbye, because I hoped he would get better. The fact that I never told him I loved him before he passed haunts me every day, and reminds me that a stroke is an evil monster that can do what it wants when it wants.

A few years later my stepfather’s brother suffered from a serious stroke that almost killed him too, fortunately he lived. Unfortunately however his stroke left him so his words are slurred, he is barely understandable and always confused. Many mini-strokes bite at him repeatedly, and are making him far from better, we are all fighting for him.

Lastly, there is my mother who at the beginning of this year suffered from a stroke. This drove fear and pain right through my heart for fear that I would lose her too, and I couldn't bear that thought. Seeing her in her hospital bed was as painful as staring at death itself.  Thankfully my mother survived and is recovering miraculously.

These events have inspired me to do a stroke awareness day at school, and for my sister and I to participate in the 2012 Train To End Stroke Marathon. Through donations from a friend's family, and many others, we each have a hefty goal to raise $5,000 for the American Stroke Association, and we can only do this with your help. Together we hope to earn $10,000 so that people like my mother, father and Bob have a chance to have a regular life again.

Through the association’s Train To End Stroke program, I have a coach, a team, training schedules, and special clinics, and I’m raising thousands of dollars for stroke research and education programs. That’s important, because someone suffers a stroke every 45 seconds and someone dies of one every 3.1 minutes. And 29 percent of people who have strokes are under age 65.

I’m asking for your support through your good thoughts and a generous contribution to the American Stroke Association. I am especially proud to run on behalf of many who’ve had a stroke and desperately need our help. You can run with me in spirit. Help me tell my father I love him one last time, and support my mother and Bob, and show my love, and yours, to them as well.

Your tax-deductible contribution, sent as soon as possible, is greatly appreciated. Every dollar makes a difference toward stroke research and education. If your company has a matching gift program, please send me the matching gift form along with your check and potentially double your donation.

Visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.''