Brain Aneurysm Advocacy:
Turning Awareness to Action
Awareness opens the door. Advocacy helps move communities, institutions, and policymakers toward meaningful change.
LaLa Speaks Foundation brings lived experience, community education, trusted information, and public engagement together to advance brain aneurysm awareness, early recognition, research equity, and meaningful public action.
FROM AWARENESS TO ADVOCACY
Awareness opens the door. Advocacy helps move communities, institutions, and policymakers toward meaningful change.
LaLa Speaks Foundation brings lived experience, community education, trusted information, and public engagement together to advance brain aneurysm awareness, early recognition, research equity, and meaningful public action.
We believe that every voice matters in the fight for better outcomes and increased funding for life-saving research.
Awareness opens the door. Advocacy helps us walk through it.
.png)
A Missouri Milestone
In 2026, Missouri established a permanent annual recognition of September as Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month. The milestone created a statewide opportunity to keep brain aneurysm education, early recognition, survivor and family voices, and public awareness visible year after year.
LaLa Speaks Foundation did not author or sponsor the legislation. Our role was to use community voice, education, relationship building, and continued engagement to help keep brain aneurysm awareness part of the public conversation.
For us, recognition is not the finish line. It creates an opportunity to turn public acknowledgment into education, community action, and continued advocacy.
WHAT WE ADVOCATE FOR
Our advocacy is rooted in lived experience, community education, and the belief that awareness should lead to meaningful action.
EARLY RECOGNITION & EDUCATION
Advance public understanding of warning signs, risk factors, brain health, and the importance of timely care so more people are better prepared before a crisis occurs.
RESEARCH
EQUITY
Support greater attention and responsible investment in brain aneurysm research, detection, treatment, and long-term outcomes.
COMMUNITY & FAMILY VOICE
Help ensure survivors, families, caregivers, and affected communities are included in conversations that shape education, research priorities, public awareness, and policy.
PUBLIC POLICY & INVESTMENT
Engage policymakers, institutions, healthcare leaders, foundations, and community partners around solutions that strengthen awareness, research, access to trusted information, and community well-being.
ADVOCACY IN ACTION
ADVOCACY IN ACTION
Our advocacy moves through education, relationships, and community action.
EDUCATE
Bring trusted brain health and brain aneurysm information into communities through public education, mobile activations, events, and partnerships.
ENGAGE
Build relationships with survivors, families, healthcare leaders, community organizations, and public officials so lived experience and trusted information remain part of the conversation.
MOBILIZE
Turn awareness into visible action through campaigns, public recognition, community events, advocacy efforts, and opportunities for people to use their voice.
CURRENT ADVOCACY PRIORITIES
Our advocacy continues to grow from community education into public action, research advocacy, policy engagement, and opportunities for people to move awareness forward in their own communities.
STATE RECOGNITION & PUBLIC POLICY
Missouri’s permanent recognition of September as Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month demonstrates what sustained community voice, education, relationship building, and public engagement can help move forward.
We will continue using public recognition as a platform for education and advocacy while building relationships that can support meaningful opportunities in additional communities and states.
FEDERAL RESEARCH ADVOCACY
Brain aneurysm research requires greater visibility and sustained investment. LaLa Speaks Foundation supports efforts that advance research, detection, treatment, and better outcomes for individuals and families affected by brain aneurysms.
Our federal advocacy includes raising awareness of Ellie’s Law and helping communities understand why dedicated brain aneurysm research funding matters.
EVERY
18
MINUTES
Every 18 Minutes turns awareness into participation. Through education, sharing, visible action, community engagement, and opportunities to stand with survivors and families, the campaign gives individuals and organizations practical ways to help brain aneurysm awareness reach farther.
The campaign is designed to move across communities and state lines as our advocacy network grows.
COMMUNITY ADVOCACY EXPERIENCES
LaLa Speaks Foundation creates community-centered experiences that bring education, lived experience, medical voices, remembrance, and advocacy into shared spaces.
Through initiatives such as the Red Light Moment, the Brain Health & Early Intervention Summit, and mobile community activations, we create opportunities for people to learn, connect, and move awareness into meaningful action.
YOUR VOICE CAN MOVE THIS FORWARD
Advocacy does not belong only in legislative chambers. It begins when people learn, speak, share their experiences, ask questions, and bring trusted information into the places where decisions are made.
Whether you are a survivor, family member, community supporter, healthcare professional, researcher, organization, or public leader, there is a place for your voice in this movement.
USE
YOUR
VOICE
Learn who represents you, contact elected officials, share trusted information, and speak up for greater awareness, research, and public investment.
SHARE
YOUR EXPERIENCE
Survivor and family experiences can help illuminate gaps in awareness, education, research, access, and support. Share when you are ready and in the way that feels right for you.
STAY CONNECTED & TAKE ACTION
Receive advocacy updates, current calls to action, campaign opportunities, and ways to help move brain aneurysm awareness forward in your community.
ADVOCACY TOOLKIT
Explore practical guidance for using your voice, understanding advocacy priorities, and helping move brain aneurysm awareness forward.
ADVOCACY TOOLKIT & RESOURCES
Advocacy is stronger when people have trusted information, clear tools, and an understanding of the issues they are speaking about. Use these resources to learn, prepare, and take informed action.
EVERY 18 MINUTES
Turn awareness into visible action through education, sharing, community participation, and opportunities to stand alongside survivors and families.
MOVE AWARENESS FORWARD
Brain aneurysm advocacy grows when communities, survivors, families, healthcare professionals, researchers, organizations, and public leaders move together.
LaLa Speaks Foundation will continue carrying trusted education into communities, elevating lived experience, strengthening relationships, supporting research advocacy, and creating opportunities for people to turn awareness into meaningful action.