Warmest
congratulations to all our supporters on achieving the target
total for
the Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours - and more! Our
target was
120,000 km (or three times around the world at the Equator) Mileage
reported so far is 215,883 kms! And the mileage is still coming in...
The
next World Walk starts 1 January 2009. Please visit our
website periodically for updates on this and the 2009
International Brain Tumour Awareness Week.
Ashlie
Sembrot of Amy’s Walk, which took place in memory
of Amy Masiejczyk
(Ashlie’s Aunt), had a great turnout - 50 walkers, walking 5
miles each,
for a total 250 miles! The five mile walk in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania (USA)
started at Boathouse Row, then proceeded along Kelly Drive
to StrawberryMansionBridge
and back again to
Boathouse Row.
Charles and Olga Grant of the Andrew McCartney Trust
Fund for Brain Tumour Research report that 43 walkers strolled around the
beautiful LakeVrnwy
in Wales,
raising over 5,000 and clocking up 546 miles which will be applied to the World
Walk total. October has a special meaning for the Grants as Andrew was
born on 29th October 1970 and passed away from a brain tumour on 11th October
2007. In addition to the Lake Vrnwy walk, Charles and Olga let us know of two
other Welsh events that helped raise awareness of and funds for brain tumours
in connection with the 2008 International Brain Tumour Awareness Week.
Supporter Pat Webb & her helpers raised an amazing 1090.00 GBP on their Hot
Pork Sandwich Day. The AMTF Photo-Art Exhibition & Bag packing day at Tywyn
CO-OP Supermarket raised another 715.00 GBP with lots of brain tumour awareness
leaflets handed out on both occasions. See: http://www.andrewmccartneyphotos.co.uk/
The American Brain Tumor
Association (ABTA) has pledged the mileage from its MontroseHarbor,
Chicago Path to Progress run/walk held in April. This event
saw
some 5,500 participants and 250 volunteers helping to raise
more
than half a million dollars for brain tumor research.
www.abta.org
Canadian
based b.r.a.i.n.child has again
been supportive of the International Brain Tumour Alliance in 2008 by
mentioning
the organization in its newsletter and supporting Meagan’s Walk from
which
organizers have donated mileage to the World Walk. www.sickkids.ca/brainchild
Stephanie Beckedorff
reports that the Barbara DiStase Memorial Walk, held
in August, had a
total of 103 people participating. This group has donated 159.65 miles
to the
IBTA’s Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours. Funds raised
went to the
American Brain Tumor Association. http://www.barbaradistase.com/
Beverly Barnett
and Friends of the Bush Club of New
South Wales (Australia) completed a
walk through the borderlands of England
and Wales
along an ancient earthwork called Offa's Dyke. The journey
took three
weeks, with five rest days. There were two groups of ten, travelling
about five
days apart. A total of 4395kilometres
has been donated to the Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours.
The Brain
Tumour Foundation of Canada reports
that the 4,500 registered participants in their 2008 Spring Sprints
came from
19 Canadian cities and raised over Canadian $1.38 million for brain
tumour
research. The BTF has donated 16,300 kilometres to the World Walk.
http://www.braintumour.ca/
Trudy Thomas
from Brain Tumour UK
advised that walkers in the “Jurassic 32” fund-raising walk donated 343
miles
to the World Walk target. www.braintumouruk.org.uk
Peter Buller, a twenty-five
year
survivor of a brain tumour walked 290 miles from Glastonbury
to Walsingham (UK) in May and June,
and raised funds for Brain Tumour UK.
Ron Brinton wrote to
say
that the 2008 Angels Among Us event at Duke (USA)
was a day for new
records. The family fun walk saw 3,200 walkers walking an average of
1.5 miles
for a total of 4,800
miles. Over $1 million
was raised by the combined efforts of runners and walkers. http://www.angelsamongus.org/
Sue
Evans reported that
1725 miles were walked on Easter Monday 2008. The Ed
Evans Foundation
[Wales,
UK]
organized the event in which 220 eager walkers together with a wide
selection
of dogs participated. The Sponsored Walk which is set to raise over
£3,000 was
the inspiration of Ed Evans who set up the Foundation following his
diagnosis
of a brain tumor in 2001. His brave battle was sadly lost last October
but the
work of the charity continues in his name. http://www.edevansfoundation.co.uk/links.htm
The West North Carolina
Brain Tumor Support 7th Annual Picnic and Walk Around the
Lake took place
on September 18th at Scenic Lake Tomahawk in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
But this wasn’t just any picnic! The Montreat Chamber Choir
performed and
the mileage achieved on the Lake
stroll was donated to the Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours. http://www.wncbraintumor.org/index.html
The 5th Annual
Glio-Blastoff 5K was a great success. Over
$11,500.00 was raised for
brain tumor research by over 350 participants. Of those,
there was a
total of 163 walkers and each of them walked >3.1 miles, which
equates to
505.3 miles toward the IBTA goal. http://www.braincancer5k.com/
On Thursday 4th September
487 children at Hampton Primary School walked a
total of 2965 km to
raise awareness for brain tumours. This was longer than the
distance
between their home city of Melbourne
and Wellington,
New Zealand
(2594 kms).
The Jeffrey
Thomas Hayden Foundation 5K
Family Fun Walk took place on May 10th, 2008 and mileage from
the walk will
be donated to the Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours.
This Foundaton
promotes awareness about Pediatric Brain Tumors and was established in
memory
of 13 year old Jeffrey Hayden who passed away from a brain tumour in
2004.http://www.jthf.org/default.asp
The
Kelly Heinz-Grundner
Foundation
based in Delaware (USA) had
its first "GetYourHeadInTheGame"
brain tumor awareness walk on Saturday, 3rd May and will donate the
mileage to
the Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours.http://www.getyourheadinthegame.org/index.php Four hundred and fifty
participants completed the 7th Annual Kevin Mullin 5K Run/Walk
on April
20th and contributed 2,250 kms to the World Walk
total. Organiser
Cecelia Mullin said that the weather was perfect, the turnout was great
and the
Foundation raised $24,000 for brain tumour research and awareness.http://www.lemonhead.org/Home.aspx
Kim
Lachutfrom the
UConn Sharing Hope walk reported that their 250 walkers in
June raised
$20,000 for the American Brain Tumor Association. Mileage will be
submitted to
the World Walk target.http://www.uconnalumni.com/
Kristen
Gillette from New
Jersey (USA) has advised the IBTA that 358 participants covered a total
of 716
miles on Sunday, 7th September during the MonmouthPark
annual event, Kortney’s Challenge, which is
conducted by the Kortney
Rose Foundation.http://www.thekortneyrosefoundation.org/
A
team of 115 adults and
children – plus five dogs – took part in the Levi’s Star Walk
on 15th
March in Wakefield Yorkshire (UK) to remember little Levi Ringer and to
raise
funds for brain tumour research. The group donated 360 miles
to the Walk
Around the World for Brain Tumours and raised £5,000.
The 6th Annual Mark
Linder Walk for the Mind was held in Peoria,
Illinois (USA)
on 27th September with
hundreds of walkers taking part. The runners and walkers hope
to raise
$45,000 for the American Brain Tumor Association. The walked mileage
from this
event will be applied to the Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours
target.
The
organisers of Meagan’s
Walk – Creating a Circle of Hope (Toronto, Canada)
advised
that this year’s event was a great success. A conservative
estimate of
number of participants is 2500 - all would have walked a 5
kilometre
route, so that is 12,500 kilometres pledged for the Walk Around the
World. A message from the IBTA, wishing participants “good
luck” for
their walk was read out just prior to the event. www.meaganswalk.com
Drs Matthias Preusser and
Christine Marosi (Neurooncology Team, Medical University of Vienna)
and the Viennese Scout Group 42,
organised an
Austrian contribution to the Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours.
On
Sunday, July 6th, a group of 15-20 people including scouts
aged 15 to 18
years hiked from Weißbrach to Anraun, Carinthia, Austria.
The total distance of this hike was approximately 18 km.
The Michael Quinlan Brain Tumor Foundation advised the IBTA that the Foundation had
great success with WALK '08 on May 10th. Last year they raised about
$30,000.
This year, the total raised was $56,000. A VIP reception was
also held as
well as a David Bailey concert the night before the Walk. With
approximately
450 participants (up from 250 last year) walkers racked-up 1,395 miles
for the
Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours.www.mqbtf.org
Mike
Logsdon from theNational Brain Tumor
Foundation (NBTF) reported that there were 1525 participants
in the 2008
San Francisco Bay Area Brain Tumor
Walk and Angel
Adventure and 821 at the Denver Walk. The two walks raised
over $1.05 m.http://www.braintumor.org/
Tim
Erickson from the
Victorian Racewalking
Club in Australia
advised that walkers on 12 July covered a combined distance of 437.5 kms and raised $750 for the
Royal Melbourne Hospital
Neuroscience Foundation.
Peter
Bennett from
Brisbane, Australia,
advised that on the
same weekend racewalkers
in Queensland
covered 156 kms
and donated the funds raised to the Cancer Council Queensland. Peter
himself
had just returned from France
where he had come 2nd
overall in the Paris-Colmar
stages race, covering 173 kms
in 19 hours 30 minutes. He also won the Rouen
24-hour international walk covering a distance of 214.65 kms.
Peter has donated both distances covered to the World Walk target.
Rosie
Cashman
(British Columbia)
and Maureen Daniels (Toronto)
- both
well-known in Canadian brain tumour support groups - hiked Gros Morne
mountain
in the National Park of the same name on the west coast of Newfoundland.
Australians
Sally Payne
(IBTA Advisor) and Fiona Towers and their
respective families (a
total of ten people) did a grand tour of Europe this year and decided
in
advance to donate their walked mileage in London and Paris to the Walk
Around
the World for Brain Tumours. The two families have jointly
walked 1163
kilometres.
Steve
Andrews, President of
the Southeastern Brain Tumor
Foundation in Atlanta,
Georgia
(USA)
reports that a message from the IBTA was read to the participants in
the 9th
Annual SBTF Race for Research in July. More than 2,200 people participated in
this event with a
record 1,800 plus walkers and runners. Over $300,000 was raised and the
walked
mileage contributed to the Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours.www.sbtf.org
Students
Supporting Brain
Tumor Research (SSBTR)
based in Phoenix,
Arizona
(USA)
raised over $230,000 and had at least 4000 participants.
The event
lasted for three hours and 20,000 miles was achieved and donated to the
Walk
Around the World for Brain Tumours.www.ssbtr.org
Kathryn Geyer writes that Team
John Geyer (USA)
participated in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, raised
$3,200 for
the ACS and achieved a grand total of 888 miles for the Walk Around the
World
for Brain Tumours.
Thomas Lind Mainz
and
family, friends and supporters of Hjernetumor.dk
(Danish brain tumour
group) participated in the Danish Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and
over a 24
hour period achieved a walking distance of 115.2 kilometres. http://www.hjernetumor.dk/
Mandy
Lou Patton
reported that their team called “Brad’s Buddies”
(her brother-in-law Brad Forest Schmidt passed away last year from a
brain
tumour) covered a total of 150 miles in the local Relay for Life on 1st
august
and raised over $16,000.
Shannon
Bradbury
and friends from the Queensland
(Australia)
United Brain Tumour Support group has contributed 450kms from a 10kms
beach
walk undertaken on the 20th July. The funds raised were donated to the
Cancer
Council Queensland.
Trudy
Thomas from
BrainTumour UK
advised that walkers in the
Jurassic 32 fund-raising walk donated
343 miles to the World Walk target.
The
National Hospital
Development Foundation,
the charity
dedicated to raising funds for the NationalHospital
for Neurology and
Neurosurgery, and two other UCL charities, organised a six mile walk
across six
London
bridges
on 21st September, contributing 450 miles to the World Walk total
Rosemary
Wormington of the Worchestershire
Brain Tumour Support Group (United Kingdom)
writes that a group walk on
Sunday, 12 October went verywell. The weather was
wonderful.
Twenty-one people walked 6 km and 2 people walked 2 km, so this gives a
total
of 130 km for the Walk Around theWorld for Brain Tumours
target. Well
done to the WBTSG!
Andrea's Gift (the
Yorkshire-based
UK
brain tumour organisation) has amassed an amazing 2,363 kms - from four
sponsored walks held this year - which Andrea's Gift is donating to the
Walk
Around the World for Brain Tumours. Carol Robertson of
the charity
reports that many families of brain tumour patients participated,
including
those which had lost loved ones to the disease. Carol also
reports that
Andrea's Gift has, over the last five years, raised a total of more
than
600,000 for brain tumour research and support. Well done,
everyone!
Nigel Boutwood of Charlie's
Challenge reports
that on Saturday 6th September, children, parents, staff and friends of
St
Andrew's School, Eastbourne (UK) took part in the school's annual walk
across
The Downs past Beachy Head to Birling Gap and back. This year the
weather was
particularly bad with heavy wind and rain. However, 500 individuals
walked the
3.5 miles to Birling Gap and 160 made the return trip which amounted to
2,310
miles in total to be donated to the World Walk.
Maureen Daniels from Canada
reports that the 6th annual Head for a Cure 5k walk in support of The
Gerry
& Nancy Pencer Brain Tumor Centre took place on
Sunday, October 19,
2008. “We had 287 participants who walked a combined distance
of 1435
kilometres, all of which we are pleased to contribute to the Walk
Around the
World for Brain Tumours”, Maureen said.
Francesca
Scropetta, founder of
Il Fondo di Gio
(in memory of her young son, Giovanni, who passed away from a brain
tumour),
says that the second annual La Marcia di Gio event, held in Milan,
Italy on
Sunday, 19th October, was a great success. Francesca writes
that
"This year, La Marcia was dedicated to Viola, a beautiful 16 year old
girl..." Over 700 people attended and 600 achieved a walking
mileage total of 3000 kms which has been donated to the Walk Around the
World
for Brain Tumours. More than 60 volunteers from A.S.D. La Michetta and
AS.P.E.S. helped organise the event and the A.I.T.C. (Associazione
Italiana per
i Tumori Cerebrali) collaborated.
It was a
glorious autumn day in Norfolk
when the Astro Fund Holkham Family walk took place
under the direction
of Christine Forecast who organises the event in
memory of her
son-in-law, Paul Chamberlain, of Hertfordshire, who died from a brain
tumour in
2005. The walk raised 5,000 for brain tumour research and support and
resulted
in around 200 people achieving 882 miles which have been donated to the
Walk
Around the World for Brain Tumours. The event was covered in
the media
and Christine was quoted as saying: “By reaching out to other people
who are
also facing such traumatic circumstances and raising money for support
services
and those vital research projects which will save others in the future,
we aim
to honour Pauls memory. We also hope to provide hope for those whose
brain
tumour journeys have just begun.”
Dr Laurie
Dangler of Ohio
reports that her ROC On (Run Over
Cancer) team participated in the Columbus
half marathon. The team were fundraising for OhioStateUniversity's
JamesCancerHospital
and
research into brain tumours. Together with the walking mileage from the
half
marathon and mileage accumulated in training for the event, 5,000 miles
were
donated by ROC On to the World Walk target. Laurie
was given a
"Spirit Award" by the marathon committee in honour of starting a
fundraising team for brain tumours.
Dr Danny Chan from Hong Kong
reports that 250 people participated in the Brain Trek
held on Saturday
25 October. He said that a lot of people attended after hearing about
the walk
on the radio. "It is a great boost to awareness in Hong Kong", he said. "
Frank Boeye from the
Belgian brain tumour group
Werkgroep
Hersentumoren reports that as a
part of the two-yearly congress of the Belgian Brain Council, attended
by 700
people, "... we organised a workshop about brain tumours. We had 40
people
in our room, consisting of physicians, BT patients and their relatives
and
other interested people. The themes were:- New evolutions about
neursorgery, by
Prof.Dr. Olivier Dewitte, Chairman of the BANO (Belgian Association for
Neuro-Oncology). - The future of chemotherapy, by Prof. Dr. Bart Neyns,
Head of
Neuro-Oncology at the Free University of Brussels. - The burden of the
families
of BT patients, by Betty Ryckaert, sister of a BT patient since 1988.
Afterwards we walked by the beach to a little restaurant in the harbour
of Ostend.
The
meal was superb, and the atmosphere was enthusiastic!" The walk there
and
back added 48 kms to the World Walk total.
Miranda
Barty-Taylor from Edinburgh
(BTA) reports that “... the concert last night went really well, we had
an
audience of nearly fifty, the music was beautiful, and everyone seemed
to
really enjoy it, despite the cold!” The main IBTA media release for the
commencement of the Awareness Week has also been sent to all
the main
Scottish publications including the Scotsman, the Evening News and Scotland
on Sunday.
Joanne
McLoughlin from Sydney
reports that “… we had our education day at Prince of Wales Hospital
(POWH) on
Monday and it was great we had around 70 attend. We are currently
walking this
week with staff at 3 hospital sites. This is what I hope to
be an annual
event and so next year more staff will participate. I have
around 40+
staff walking at Wollongong Hospital with around 10-15 at St. George, I
think
there is around 20+ at POWH walking. This is a start so next
year we hope
this will at least double. The money being raised is for our
local brain
tumour support group, others are raising money for their wards but it
will be
for equipment for brain tumour patients.” Joanne is from the group that
thought
up the idea of nurses on the ward wearing pedometers and being
sponsored for
the distances they walked while working. Another brain tumour group,
thousands
of kilometres away, read of the novel idea and have copied it.
Ingrid Nilsson, the AGOG Study
Coordinator
(Australian Genomics and Clinical Outcomes of Glioma project) advises
that 40
kms has been contributed to the World Walk target, following a “Bikinis
and
Boardies for Brains” walk and fun activity by scientists and research
staff
during the Awareness Week at a beach in Perth, Western Australia.
“Boardies”
refer to board shorts worn by surfers in the ocean.
Mike
Ferguson writes about
the “Marathon
Walk for Brain Tumour Awareness”: “In the small
town of 4,500 people
in Marathon,
Ontario,
Canada,
23 people participated in a walk to support local resident and artist
Katja
Viventsova (aka Kat Viva) in her fight against glioblostoma multiforme.
Katja
is an 18+ month survivor. The route around the town covered 4.5 km.
Some
participants walked as little as 2.0 km depending on their abilities.
Katja
completed 2.7 kms. It was a beautiful, sunny, cool day in this
community on the
northern shores of Lake Superior, the largest lake in North America.
The walk started from the
local coffee shop, Rumours, where some of Kat's paintings are available
for
sale. Our special guest was Katja's brother, Alexey Viventsov, who was
visiting
from Russia.
The group accumulated 75.4 kms for the World Walk. As well,
Mike
reports "As of Oct
30, Katja's Walk Around the World involved 84 people in 42
cities, towns
and remote areas in 18 countries on 4 continents, with a total of more
than 500
km."
Julie Houston from the The
Brain Tumor Awareness Organization (BTAO) pledges a total
of 2277 miles from 5 Awareness
Partners around the state of South Carolina
who walked in various events in honor of the
IBTA Walk. Thanks to Courageous Kidz, Palmetto Peleton, Golden
Strip YMCA,
Greenville Sportsclub, Challenge to Conquer Cancer teams and BTAO
Volunteers
for contributing to this event.
Andrea Passarella from Matthew's Miles
reports that they accumulated 150 miles for the World Walk target
and have now surpassed $100,000 raised over six years. A local high
school, Delsea Regional High School, held a "satellite" walk this year.
Judith Graham from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reports that they had a successful
coffee morning and book exchange gathering as part of the Awareness Week. Over 1400 dhs was raised for the Friends of
Cancer Patients in Sharjah. Judith writes “There were a
wonderful assortment of books brought and exchanged today and I think most of
us found two or three new books and more to take away. Thanks also to
those who donated books but were unable to attend in person. The remaining
books I have here will be passed on to the new Sharjah Library, based in
the Islamic Handicrafts Centre (which may be opening towards the end of this
month ).”
Natalya Jagger (UK) advises that 21 of her contacts
walked a total of 156 kms during the Awareness Week for the World Walk target.
Polish Radio broadcast an item about brain
tumours in Poland
and the Awareness Week on 30 October. You can read the story in English here.
Sally Tetreault-Campbell from Melbourne
advises that they raised $2,000 for the Royal Melbourne Hospital Neuroscience
Foundation as a result of a raffle that they conducted for awareness raising.
During the Awareness Week a poster
display was held in the foyer of the CanberraHospital
(Australia),
promoting the local ACT Brain Tumour Network and the IBTA. The display also
contained several photos of Canberra resident Sarah Mamalai’s walk of the Kokoda
Trail in Papua New Guinea,
through which her 13 walkers raised $50,000 for the Cure
for Life Foundation and contributed 1430 kms to the World Walk target.
Klaske Hofstee from Foundation STOPhersentumoren.nl reports: “We had
a nice day yesterday (Saturday 1 November) with the Walk4Brains in the Netherlands.
Although the weathermen told us 90% chance for rain, we had a pretty dry day
and therefore a good walk.The
165
participants walked together 1306 kilometers. And gained more than 9000
euro!!!
for braintumor research. We had a patient who walked 12 km with a
walker!” the Walk was reported on the Television news and can be viewed
here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLt7PAwUd38
On Sunday
26 October 250 people joined the inaugural 2008 Walk 4 Life at Sydney's
CentennialPark, organised by the Australian Cure for Life Foundation, raising
almost $20,000 in support of brain tumour research and contributing 1352 kms to the World Walk target. It was a great
expression of support for the International Brain Tumour Awareness Week and
represented the first event, timewise, for the start of the Awareness Week.
Geoff Isaac reports that 50 people attended a
seminar organised by the Cancer Council
Queensland Brain Tumour Support Group as part of the Awareness Week and
heard presentations about disability, legal, and pension issues, Vitamin C, and
surgical perspectives.
On 30 October John BercowMP (Buckingham)
(Con), Chair of the UK Parliamentary Group on Brain TUmours asked the
following parliamentary question: "As this is international brain
tumour awareness week, may we have a
debate as soon as possible on the issue of brain tumours, in Government
time
and on the Floor of the House? Given that brain tumours can attack
anyone, that
their causes are unknown, that screening is unrealistic, that
prevention is
impossible but that treatment is improving, will the Leader of the
House accept
that we need to debate the case for more research, more access to
cutting-edge
therapies, more clinical trials and more support for families at the
earliest
opportunity? Ms Harman: The hon. Gentleman might
draw that issue to the attention of the Health Committee. I will ask my right
hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health to write to me about what is
being done in all parts of the country to improve the treatment of brain
tumours once they have been diagnosed. I shall ask him to send a copy of the
letter to the hon. Gentleman as well."
Please click here to go to Part 2 of the Completed Events reports.
