Family of Late WABC Reporter Starts Foundation in Her Memory

The husband of WABC reporter Lisa Colagrossi has started a foundation to bring awareness to brain aneurysms.

Colagrossi died in March after a brain aneurysm ruptured while she was at work.

“Lisa and I shared a very special and unconditional love for one another and for our boys,” said Colagrossi’s husband, Todd Crawford. “She is my driving force and motive behind my efforts.”

The Lisa Colagrossi Foundation raises awareness about brain aneurysms and also raises money for research.

“Brain aneurysms are just as big as breast cancer and ALS,” Crawford told New York CBS-owned radio station WCBS. “Six million people in the country are walking around with an unruptured brain aneurysm. There are 30- to 40,000 ruptures a year, almost 50 percent of those ruptures are fatal.”

A check-up and a scan can detect an aneurysm. Crawford said anyone with debilitating headaches, pain behind the eyes, blurred vision, numbness or tingling should get checked.

“This is a disease, it isn’t on the map in this country, it’s a silent killer,” he said.
This month, the foundation kicked off “The Lucky 7 Challenge” fundraising campaign. The goal is to raise $7 million over a seven-month period ending on March 19, 2016.

Those who take the challenge are asked to donate any amount with the number seven in it and then challenge seven friends to do the same. For more information, visit LisasLegacy7.org.