RISING ABOVE THE PAIN; TRAFFIC ACCIDENT POINTS VALENCIA WOMAN TOWARD L.A. MARATHON WALK.

Byline: Scott Magoloff Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Brianne Siddall Chierighiano never even considered participating in the L.A. Marathon. It took a life-altering car accident to foster this desire, which has her wanting to walk Sunday's event, which begins at 8 a.m.

Chierighiano suffered a herniated disc in her neck when another car rear-ended hers on the 101 Freeway on July 12, 1996. In the process of earning her master's degree at Loyola Marymount, her career and life goals were drastically changed that day.

``I thought I'd be back at work on Monday and it happened on a Friday,'' Chierighiano said. ``As each day passed I was not getting better. I was in the most unimaginable pain. Then about three weeks later I was in bed watching the Olympics and it felt like someone took a machete and cut off my head.''

Chierighiano was rushed to the hospital, where she learned about the herniated disc, which caused her spinal cord to flatten from its normally round shape. She spent the next six days in traction, hoping for the best before submitting to surgery a few months later.

The procedure she endured had serious ramifications regardless of the results. She said doctors told her the spinal-fusion procedure - during which a piece of her hip bone was fused onto the affected area - could only have three possible results: success, limiting her pain; she could have been left a paraplegic or she could have died.

``Three years after the surgery, it's a lot better,'' Chierighiano said. ``I still have pain in my arm and around my legs and that will always be, but now it's just a matter of pain management, physical therapy and exercise.

``But I'm walking and I never thought I'd do a marathon before. I could have. I was always athletic, but I just never thought of it. After the accident I could barely walk to the bathroom, so I thought, well, I don't want to just walk for nothing. Let me try to raise money for spinal cord injury research.''

Chierighiano has already raised about $1,500 for the National Spinal Cord Injury Association and she is still accepting donations. She is unsure of how she should react when her day Sunday is complete, considering she doesn't know if she will be able to finish the marathon.

``I'm just fortunate enough to get as far as I get,'' she said. ``Another part of me would be angry because I know I could have finished it (before the accident). I have to fight through so much pain every day, I know I can fight in the marathon. I think I can do it.''

Chierighiano also thought she could get her master's in counseling. She had been in a two-year program at Loyola Marymount, where she was studying art therapy. It would prepare the artist, who graduated magna cum laude from Cal State Northridge, to do counseling at nights and on the weekends.

She said it was a 13-year ordeal to earn her bachelor's degree, as she always had a job while she was attending classes. All of those years were spent leading up to her studies at Loyola Marymount, where it all came crashing down.

Now, Chierighiano focuses on her career as a voice-over actress. She has done work on the film ``Tarzan,'' the show ``Touched by an Angel'' and the cartoon ``Digimon.'' At first, the fact that she wouldn't be able to work as a counselor upset her, although she has come to terms with it.

``I would have loved to have done that work to help people,'' she said. ``I'm finding out now that there's other ways to help people. It was sad. It was very hard. I felt somewhat disconnected, but I had to turn things around.''

And she has, regardless of where or when or if she finishes the L.A. Marathon.

CHIERIGHIANO FILE

Name: Brianne Siddall Chierighiano

Age: 36

Obstacle: Spinal cord injury resulting in constant pain

Charity: Already raised $1,500 for National Spinal Cord Injury Association and still accepting donations

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Box: Chierighiano File (see text)