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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, December 3, 2009 · 14 Health Oakville Beaver At 50, Grey Matters to Dian Nease -- a lot By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF D ian Nease, the wife of acclaimed Oakville Beaver editorial cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Pud, is very happy about being 50. Grey Matters to Dian -- more than most know. While many facets of Steve's family life makes its way into Pud -- his wife's brain surgery was not amongst it. Now, well over a year after the surgery, Dian recently celebrated her 50th and raised more than $11,000 toward brain aneurysm research. For Dian, a long journey she calls an odyssey, began in October 2007 when one of her sisters had a ruptured brain aneurysm. Statistics say 10 to 15 per cent of patients with a ruptured brain aneurysm will die before reaching hospital and more than 50 per cent will die within 30 days after the rupture. About half of the survivors suffer neurological damage. Brain aneurysms occur in people of all ages, but are most commonly detected in those aged 35 to 60 and women are more likely to have one. As brain aneurysms are not hereditary, but are familial, Dian's family doctor, Dr. Rod Glover, sent her for an MRI. "They told me I had one," said Dian who said she must have been in denial because she always called it her jujube. "I didn't want to be defined by it," said Dian, a phrase she uses often and one she utters to explain that the news of the aneurysm and the subsequent brain surgery to address it was kept close to home. "I was told doing nothing wasn't an option," said Dian, who within a week was in Hamilton General Hospital's neurology department. Nor was the method of coiling it an option, so Dian was left facing surgery to "clip" the 3.8 mm aneurysm -- and had to wait four months for it. "It was the longest four months," said Dian, who also vividly recalls how strange it was on morning of her surgery -- the drive down to the hospital to check in... and have brain surgery. NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER ONE WEEKD ONLY SALE EN S DEC. 11 Canfoot * OFFERING BRAIN POWER: Dian Nease recently celebrated her 50th birthday and held a party as a fundraiser for brain aneurysm research called Grey Matters. The wife of wellknown Oakville Beaver cartoonist Steve Nease underwent brain surgery for an aneurysm in May 2008. While it took longer than the estimated six to eight hours anticipated as it turned out to be more complex, Steve was reassured when his wife awoke and asked if he'd mopped the floor -- the request was part of their conversation on that strange morning drive en route to the hospital. He replied that he'd been busy that day (pacing out the surgery, of course), but he'd get right on it. 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That IV, she nicknamed Ivy, her "dancing partner." "My mantra was, `I'm going to be fine,'" said Dian. Overriding it all however is the great way her family, friends, neighbours and others rallied around with support. Dian can't count them all. There were the senior neighbours who took her out for walks and helped her with gardening. Those who arrived with meals for the family. Others who came by to make Dian feel better. There was the nurse who came daily to help her with Ivy. There was her son Max's hockey coach. There was her friend Carole Bertuzzi Luciani. "It's like they were a wall behind you, holding you up," said Dian. When it was all said and done, Dian celebrated her 50th birthday and threw a party at the Niblick Pub. While it was great cause to celebrate, Dian set her mind to using the party as a means to fundraising to establish a new foundation to benefit the hospital that did so much for her, Hamilton General Hospital, and specifically to the neurology department to research aneurysms. Her 50th birthday bash raised about $11,000 in the space of about as many hours as her surgery took. Again, Dian turned the affair lighthearted. It was dubbed Grey Matters and the new foundation is Reach for the B.A.R. (Brain Aneurysm Research). Invitations to the party read, "You are receiving this as I consider you a friend, or worked with you, volunteered with you, played with you, coached your kid, shared a sideline with you and/or just really like you." It also read, "Sometimes I feel extremely grateful to be here," and continues, "During this uncomfortable See Nease page 15