#BrainTumourWalk Weekend: A Walk for HOPE

#BrainTumourWalk Weekend: A Walk for HOPE

Every day, 27 Canadians will hear the words “you have a brain tumour.” Brain tumours are unpredictable and complex. They can affect vision, hearing, memory, balance, and mobility. Their effects are physical, emotional, financial, and last a lifetime.

Kelly Northey was eight years old when she was first diagnosed with a brain tumour. The year was 1981, and at that time, there was little organized support or brain tumour research being conducted. Patients diagnosed with a brain tumour struggled alone with the physical and emotional effects of the disease.

In January of 1982, after a six-month struggle, Kelly finally succumbed to the disease, but her legacy was to live on with the creation of the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada.

“One of the things I’m so proud of as an organization is all the information we have… We have resources for patients and caregivers. We even have a colouring book and a storybook for the kids; there’s so much more now thanks to all the support we’ve received over the years!”—Steve Northey, Kelly’s father and co-founder

In this 40th anniversary year, we at Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, are celebrating our past, thankful for the present and looking to the future with hope. Every day, we strive to bring HOPE to all those affected by a brain tumour. HOPE through support. HOPE through information and education. HOPE through research. HOPE for a cure.

The Brain Tumour Walk Weekend is an opportunity for patients, survivors, and their families to come together across Canada to celebrate and remember. We walk with a united goal—to see an end to brain tumours.

“Being the family member of someone with a brain tumour means you must watch them struggle everyday with the fact that they are losing the ability to manage simple, everyday tasks that you take for granted. Our family walks for Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada because we have lost two beautiful rays of light in our family to this disease. Every effort is needed to raise money for a cure and help those struggling every minute of every day!”—Karen, Belleville

The Brain Tumour Walk is our largest volunteer-led, peerto-peer fundraising event to raise money to fund brain tumour research, compassionate support services, trusted information, and advocacy to help brain tumour patients and survivors live longer, better, and with hope.

Participants can walk individually or as a team. They can choose to do it in a day, across multiple days, or even split the distance across their team and do it as a relay. They choose the time, the distance, the route, and how they want to make an impact.

“I’m walking in memory of my beautiful niece, Jennifer, who passed away at the tender age of 28 years old in 2008 from glioblastoma. She fought such a hard battle and never gave up. We, her family, will never give up hope of finding a cure. We walk to honour her memory.”— Anna, Brampton

With every dollar raised, Brain Tumour Walk participants make it possible for people affected by a brain tumour to live longer, better, and with hope. They make it possible for critical research to advance, trusted education to spread, and compassionate support to continue. They bring us one step closer to finding a cure.

Register for the #BrainTumourWalk Weekend at www.braintumourwalk.ca and help us #EndBrainTumours.