Gina Keely

Gina Keely is Founder of The Paige Elizabeth Keely Foundation. Her daughter, Paige, passed away from a previously unknown condition called brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in January 2018. That day, Ms. Keely sent six-year-old Paige to school and soon received a call from the school nurse that her daughter was having terrible headaches. A few minutes later, she received another call that Paige was unresponsive.

Following Paige’s tragic passing, Ms. Keely dedicated herself to protecting other children and parents from having to face the same situation. When she was informed that Paige was born with a brain AVM and could have survived if known, Ms. Keely decided to help raise awareness by starting The Paige Elizabeth Keely Foundation.

The Paige Elizabeth Keely Foundation has just marked its one-year anniversary and, in this short time, Ms. Keely has built an amazing team, and is altering our region’s understanding of this relatively unknown disease.

With her partnership with Dr. Kimon Bekelis, Director of The Stroke and Brain Aneurysm Center of Long Island, the Foundation can provide early detection screening and education to bring awareness to AVMs and educate individuals on the importance of having an MRA scan. Dr. Bekelis and the team of The Stroke and Brain Aneurysm Center also provide education to emergency medical services (EMS) personnel and school staff about the symptoms of a brain AVM, aneurysm, and head trauma as a whole.

This credited CME program highlights the importance of identifying stroke patients in the field and reviews novel interventions in stroke care. They also highlight the importance of EMS in identifying stroke patients, potential aneurysms, and brain AVM ruptures.

Ms. Keely also established an AVM awareness program for schools to educate staff and families. Through these events, students receive education about AVM.

Ms. Keely is working to help people better understand AVM in the name of her daughter to help develop programs and accessibility for brain scans and early detection screening. She hopes to have an MRA scanning center to further assist in early detection and is working to ensure that her experience protects others from a similar situation.

Ms. Keely lives in St. James with her husband, Tom, and their two children, Maeve and Ronan.