KAT-Walk and Karo-5K Run for Maine Brain Aneurysm Awareness

Sunday, September 21, 2025 at Payson Park in Portland, Maine
from 9:30am to 1pm

Lace up your walking and running shoes and join us for the KAT-Walk & Karo-5K for Maine Brain Aneurysm Awareness. This 17th annual event will benefit our local efforts to support early detection, education, fund research and create awareness about brain aneurysms in Maine and northern New England.

A brain aneurysm is a weak bulge on the wall of an artery in the brain and can catastrophically rupture. Up to 1 in 50 people in the US will develop a brain aneurysm during their lifetime and each year about 40,000 people will suffer a ruptured brain aneurysm. Almost half of the victims will die and of those surviving, only a third will recover without disabilities.

This year’s event will be held on Sunday, September 21st, 2025, at Payson Park in Portland, Maine. The event starts at 9:30 am. and the walk & run will take place at 11am. The whole family is invited for a leisurely walk or to enter the timed 5K run. This will be a special day to remember and honor loved ones lost to or having survived a brain aneurysm.

The KAT-Walk originated in memory of Kimberly A.Tudor, a Portland native, Deering HS and UNE graduate and athlete, who lost her life to a sudden brain aneurysm in December 2008. The Karo-5K is in memory of Karolina A. Kurka, a Scarborough HS and UNH graduate who passed away from an undetected brain aneurysm in July 2011. This event has now grown to include many more families affected by brain aneurysms and stroke.

September is Maine Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month. Join us as we “share our tears, remember with love, walk & run to honor” those families affected by this silent killer and help save lives!

For more information and to register for the event visit our website at MaineBA.org