HAMILTON – How far would you go to help someone you love? For Katie Gaven, the answer was 26 miles.

The Hamilton resident competed in the grueling New Jersey Devilman Duathlon — which calls for contestants to perform a 6-mile run on top of a 20-mile bike ride — in Cumberland County earlier this month in order to raise money and awareness for the rare brain disease affecting her 21-year-old cousin, Adrienne D’Oria.

“The race wasn’t a fundraiser for anything in particular, so I was thinking of how I could fundraise for something, and I thought of my cousin,” Gaven said. “Her disability is one that goes under the radar a lot, so I just felt like I needed to make people more aware.”

D’Oria is afflicted with hydrocephalus, a condition in which excessive fluid gathers in the brain, placing a potentially damaging amount of pressure on brain cells. Affecting about one of every 500 births — and about 1 million Americans — the disease has no cure and, if left untreated, can be fatal. Often those suffering from it are limited in the tasks they can perform.

The condition is so relatively unknown that Gaven, an occupational therapist who works with people suffering from a range of disabilities, said even many in her field are unfamiliar with it.

“I raised a lot of the money through my school, and a lot of people participated in that and asked what this disease was,” she said. “My aunt just kept saying ‘That’s so great. That’s the whole point of doing these fundraisers — to make people more aware of this condition.’”

Gaven spoke about the number of trials her cousin had already been through in 21 years. Born with the condition, she was fitted with a device inside her head that keeps track of her condition.

If a test indicates something is wrong with that system, or once she has grown and needs the machine to be refitted, she must undergo intensive operations where part of her skull is cut open in order for doctors to fix or replace the device.

Gaven’s fundraising ventures also helped bring in $1,000 to help find a cure, she said.

“What inspired me, too, is that she’s had over 50 brain surgeries and procedures all together, and she will still go out and run a mile,” Gaven said. “And to me, that’s just unbelievable and amazing because sometimes I struggle with getting up in the morning and running, and she’s gone through all this and still does it.”

D’Oria’s perseverance and determination inspired and helped Gaven throughout the race, which will be her last after many years of participating in similar events, she said. The thoughts were especially helpful for Gaven in moments of weakness during the race, she said.

“When you’re getting tired and fatigued and want to give up, I’d think of her and it was motivation to keep going,” she said. “She’s definitely gone through a lot for someone who’s only 21. She inspires a lot of people, and I don’t think she even realizes that.”

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