More completed 2007 Activities

Greater Collaboration Greater Knowledge Greater Hope

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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.

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(2007) More completed activities

Reports on other completed activities for the World Walk and the Awareness Week may be accessed here.

Pip Murdoch, the nurse counsellor with the brain tumour support group "Headways" run by the Wellington Division of the Cancer Society of New Zealand, organiseed a pot-luck dinner on 23 October as part of the Awareness Week. It was for all those affected by a brain tumour diagnosis, including family and carers and by all accounts everyone had an enjoyable time. Pip may be contacted at: pipm at cancersoc.org.nz (substitute @ for at).



Saija Paukkunen advises that 50 walkers participated in the brain tumour awareness walk organised by Ark Therapeutics Oy in Kuopio, Finland, on 26 October and others attended a seminar at which Professor (emeritus) of Neurosurgery Mr. Matti Vapalahti gave a general presentation about brain tumours.


Staff from Ark Therapeutics in the UK, which is one of the sponsors of the Awareness Week and World Walk, undertook a challenging 17 kms walk in the Surrey countryside during the Awareness Week which took five hours to complete, after which the walkers enjoyed a well-earned beer in a pub.
		On the following day Ark employee Nick Plummer took part in a "Military 10 kms run" to raise funds for the IBTA, for which we thank him. His colleague Ed Bliss also took part. Nick is in the photo on the left and Ed is in the mniddle of the group on the right. This was a deliberately muddy section of the "run".


	More than 200 participants took part in the Brain Trekking event in Hong Kong, each covering a distance of 10 kms, and resulting in a contribution of 2000 kms to the World Walk target. Congratulations to the organisers Dr Danny Chan and Ms Frances Tse.

Nicole Dunn, General Manager of the Cure for Life Foundation in Sydney, Australia, advises that over 6,500 students from 30 schools in Australia joined in the Cranes for Brains Day held during the Awareness Week by participating in either an Origami Crane Fold-a-thon or Causal Clothes day on 26 October. "Almost 55,000 cranes were folded and organisers hope this will help raise over $30,000 to support Cure for Life Foundation research into brain tumours and the unique Paediatric Brain Tumour Rehabilitation Programme at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick. Students at each school competed in the one-hour fold-a-thon and prizes were awarded to the child who folded the most cranes in each school. (Note the current national record is an amazing 86 by a child in Perth)," Nicole said.

Some of the 37 walkers who participated in an Awareness Walk from Banchory to Aberdeen in Scotland on 27 October to raise funds for the Dennis Ralph Fund within the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust. They covered an amazing 550 miles (885 kms) in a journey that took them five hours (including a lunch break). Perhaps next time we should have special awards for the heroic dogs who accompanied their owners!

Mag.Sabine Spiegl-Kreinecker advises that the seminar on "Perpectives in Neurooncology", held at the Wagner Jauregg Hospital in Linz, Austria, during the Awareness Week was very successful. "We had about 100 participants consisting of clinicians, researchers and hospital nurses from Austria with a focus point on Linz who work in the field of neurooncology. The lectures were informative and of high quality and showed very well the indispensability of interdisciplinary cooperation," Sabine wrote.

Staff and students at the Joseph H. Kennedy Public School in Matheson, Northern Ontario, Canada, undertook a walk on 25 October as part of the World Walk project and the funds raised will be donated to the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. Teacher Laura Michaud advises that 174 walkers (including some from Kindergarten) covered 801 kms in total. Well done! Matheson is a relatively small town but is obviously a great outdoors location.

Sue Steinmetz reports that 505 participants walked a total of 925 miles (1489 kms) in a walk organised on 27 October by Brains Together for a Cure in Rochester, MN, USA, and the more than $30,000 raised will go to the Mayo Clinic for further brain tumor research. That is a significant result for a first effort. Incidentally, the initials BTFC can also stand for "Because there’s future in a cure" or "Because their future is a cure". Clever! The walk was conducted both indoors and outside. Here are some photos.

Members of the brain tumour support group associated with the Cancer Council Queensland (Australia) held a brain tumour awareness seminar attended by 49 patients and their families on 27 October to coincide with the International Brain Tumour Awareness Week. It was rated a great success. Some feedback from the participants: "All speakers outlined very practical aspects … Broad overview - very interesting …This seminar was very well presented and each speaker gave vital information which all links together. As a clinician, it is so very important for health professionals to gain an understanding outside the ‘hospitalisation period’ of what and how patients are fairing and what we can do to provide a better service/support/options post hospitals … Answered a lot of things we did not know anything about and helped us to understand what is going to happen." As can be seen from the photo, even young babies were welcome!

Christine Forecast, who helped organise the Holkam Hall walk in Norfolk (UK) on 21 October, reports “Over 150 people walked a total of 688 miles during the gloriously sunny day and we hope to have raised well over £4,000 when all the sponsorship monies have come in. The children’s walk was very popular as they toddled the mile from the Hall to the obelisk with games along the way. The adults and teenagers walked the 3, 6 or 10 mile routes, the long one going out of the Hall grounds to Wells-next-the-Sea and along the beach before returning up the main drive.” The aim was to raise funds and honour the memory of her daughter's husband Paul who passed away in March last year from a brain tumour. The mileage has been donated to the World Walk target and funds raised to the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust and Astro Fund.
Christine with the tally sheet.	Note the dogs lining up to register!
There were walks for all age groups.

Walkers in the Fifth Annual Matthew's Miles - Walk for a Brain Tumor Cure, in honour of Matthew Passarella (New Jersey), donated 300 miles (483 kms) to the 2007 Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours. Matthew was diagnosed with a diffuse pontine brainstem glioma in 2001.

Left - a group of High School students who raised over $1000. Right - Matthew's family (Matthew is on the left).

Frank Boeye (pictured on left), Chair of the Belgian brain tumour support group Werkgroep Hersentumoren, advises that a press conference held in Brussels on 26 October, as part of the Awareness Week, went very successfully: "We had 38 people in the conference room, half of them patients and their surroundings, 8 reporters (2 from radio and television), 5 physicians, 2 people of the industry, 1 politician." Well done, hopefully action that will lead to a better understanding and greater awareness of the problems caused by brain tumours.


Sven Gutker de Geus of the Netherlands brain tumour support group hersentumor.nl advises that on 25 October 30 children aged between 3 and 10 years walked 1.5 kilometer in The Hague, together with 6 grownups, contributing 54 kms to the World Walk target. All participants had a little lamp in their hands. Here are some photos.

302 individuals each walked 5 kms on 29 September in a walk for the National Brain Tumor Foundation held in San Diego (USA), resulting in 1510 kms being added to the World Walk target. On 6 October at an Angel Adventure walk in DC 191 people covered a total of 955 kms. At Tempe, Arizona, on 13 October 392 people each walked 5 kms to generate a contribution of 1960 kms to the World Walk target. On 20 October at the Orange County Walk 314 participants donated a total of 1570 kms and on 3 November 848 people each walked 5 kms in Dallas/Fort Worth to add 4240 kms to the World Walk total. That is excellent news! Here is a photo of a mother and daughter from the DC walk.



Francesca Scropetta and Il Fondo di Gio (named in honour of her son Gio) organised a walk, "Marcia di Gio" in Milan, Italy, on 21 October and attracted 350 participants. The AITC (Associazione Italiana Tumori Cerebrali) also helped with the organisation of the Marcia. Francesca (pictured top right) was a member of the judging panel for the competition conducted during 2005-2006 to identify an appropriate logo for the IBTA. There were even some clowns at the Marcia (from ASSOCIAZIONE VERONICA SACCHI) to entertain the children. Two Milan-based sports organisations also participated: ASPES and LA MICHETTA ... and an Italian dog (above right), which joins the Scottish dog and the British dog who also took part in the awareness-raising walks.

Michel Esnault, Chair of GFME Glioblastoma Fundation Michele Esnault in France, advises that 103 walkers in Marseille and Royan participated in a walk on the first day of the Awareness Week, Sunday 21 October, and received some pubicity in the newspaper "Provence". The funds raised were donated to ARTC, Association for Research on the Cerebral Tumors. Michel has translated into French some of the media information about the Awareness Week, which is available here.

Kayron Warren of Georgia, USA, advises that the Charles Warren Brain Tumor Awareness Foundation would like to submit 243.28 kilometers to the international effort. 10 students at Arlington Christian School in Fairburn, GA participated to achieve this distance. "They wore foundation t-shirts, wristbands and used foundation logo water bottles as they accumulated this distance. They have all learned a lot about brain tumors this week and have pledged to spread the word and to become active participants in our foundation's mission" Kayron said.

Sarah Young from Sydney, Australia, organised a mini fund-raising walk for brain tumour research via the Cure for Life Foundation on Sunday 21 October from Bondi to Coogee and back. This is a link to her fund-raising webpage. Sarah and friends covered 180 kms.

Vanessa Voysey advises that walkers for BTUK accumulated 132 miles (212 kms) in a walk from Royal Shrewsbury Hospital Children's Cancer ward to Bridgnorth in the UK.

Mandy Lou Patton and nine friends walked 10 miles at Great Salt Lake (USA) on 26 October, in honour of her brother in law Brad Forest Schmidt who passed away in September from a brain tumour. Funds raised will go to the American Cancer Society - Relay for Life.

Nikky Blower from Bath (UK) organised a walk in honour of her father who passed away last year and in which 60 people covered a total distance of 500 miles. The funds raised will go to Sue Ryder Leckhampton. Pictured right are some of the local sheep who took time out from eating to watch the walk.

On 21 October Angela Deacon sponsored a concert at Stratford (UK) at the conclusion of the Music Festival and the funds raised will go to Brain Tumour UK, of which she is a Trustee. Here is a photo of Angela telling the audience about the work of Brain Tumour UK.

Bev Barnett donated 94kms to the World Walk target from her Cape to Cape walk in Western Australia. Funds raised were donated to the Cure for Life Foundation. The Cape to Cape walk is a coastal walk between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin, the most southerly point in Western Australia, where the Indian Ocean and The Great Southern Ocean meet. The track runs through bushland, and across cliffs and beaches.

Tracy Moore from the NY-based Children's Brain Tumor Foundation advises that the Foundation hosted a 1.7 mile walk, called the "Great Pumpkin Walk" on Saturday, October 27 in Central Park, NYC, which attracted 150 walkers and 15 pet therapy teams, despite a rainstorm on the day.

Di Murphy from Australia walked 100kms of the Great Wall of China during five days in October and donated the distance to the IBTA's World Walk target and the funds raised to Brain Tumour Australia.

Clare Humphries advises that 40 people on 27 October walked in memory of Amanda Louise Withey, who died of a brain tumour on the 23rd September 2007, aged 22. Amanda's friends and family walked from her home in Chadderton, Oldham to Hollingworth Lake, Rochdale along a canal path in the UK. "Amanda's favourite colour was pink and we wore pink T shirts and carried pink buckets to collect donations," Clare said. Funds raised will go to the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust. The website for the event can be found at www.justgiving.com/amandawithey. The walkers contributed 320 miles (515 kms) to the World Walk target.

Amanda

Participants from the 5th Annual Head for a Cure Walk in aid of the Gerry and Nancy Pencer Brain Trust held on Sunday 14 October in Toronto, Canada. 252 people walked a total of 1260 kilometres. It must have been slightly cold, some of the walkers wore gloves. In contrast, a week later in Sydney, Australia, one of the walkers on a brain tumour awareness walk there suffered from heat exhaustion!

Dr Helen Bulbeck, Director of Brainstrust, the Meg Jones UK tumour charity, advises that brainstrust held a walk from Haworth to Top Withens and back on October 20th. The walk was led by the Brainstrust's founder's greyhound - Snatch, who is pictured at the Top!

Shanne McNamara reports from Edinburgh in the UK: "A study day was held during the International Brain Tumour Awareness Week on the 26^th October at the Western General Hospital. The title of the day was ‘Towards Improving the Management of People with Brain Tumours'. We were fortunate in having excellent invited speakers with: Dr Antonio Omuro from Paris speaking on imaging and diagnosis, Professor Whittle from Edinburgh on improving surgical outcome, Dr Alan James from Glasgow on improvements in oncology treatments and finally Andrew Anderson from Maggie’s Centre Edinburgh on holistic care. All of the sessions received excellent evaluation. Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, social workers, dieticians and medical students attended the day. It was truly a multidisciplinary day with plenty of time for networking with our colleagues."

Hundreds of staff, visitors, and some patients, saw the International Brain Tumour Awareness Week display in the main foyer of the Canberra Hospital, Australia. The display contained some of the mutli-language posters produced for the Awareness Week and other publications distributed by the IBTA, in addition to a brochure for the local ACT Brain Tumour Network.

On 25 October Mr John Bercow MP (Chair of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Brain Tumours) asked the Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP (Minister of State, Ministry of Justice) the following question: "As it is international brain tumour awareness week and supporters in several countries across the world have covered twice the circumference of the globe in undertaking fund-raising sponsored walks on its behalf, may we have a debate in Government time on the Floor of the House as a matter of urgency? No fewer than 16,000 people are diagnosed with brain tumours each year, yet survival rates have not risen in line with those for other cancers and the brain tumour research community benefits from only a tiny proportion of the resources available to Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council. Is it not time that we considered how we can do better in the interests of helping those thousands of people who have suffered far too much for far too long with far too little done to help them?" Mr Harman replied: "I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s point, as will hon. Members throughout the House. I am pleased to have the opportunity to congratulate all the organisations that are working together as part of brain tumour awareness week as well as throughout the year. I also pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman’s support for those organisations."

Shannon Bradbury and friends climbed Mount Warning in NE New South Wales (Australia) and donated their combined distance of 52.8 kms to the World Walk. As can be seen from the photo of Shannon (red hat and white shirt) it was more of a vertical than a horizontal walk! The funds Shannon and his friends raised will go to the Cancer Council Queensland. The highest point of the mountain is 1157 metres above sea level.

Brain Tumour UK organised a successful One-Day Patient Conference on Brain Tumours at Cambridge on 20 October and on the next day walkers at Norwich clocked up 100 miles for the World Walk and raised £3,000.

A group of people attended a picnic in Adelaide organised by the Adult Brain Cancer Support Association of South Australia on 21 October to coincide with the inaugural International Brain Tumour Awareness Week.

Laura Jacox of the MIT Braintrust advises that 17 people on 28 October walked 40 miles (64 kms) around the Charles River Basin in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, as part of the Awareness Week.

The Brain Tumour Foundation of India www.braintumourindia.com organised a brain tumour awareness function at the Tata Memorial Hospital (largest comprehensive cancer hospital of South Asia), Mumbai on 23rd October. This was attended by many patients, survivors and their families where some of them recounted their experiences. The function was supported by the Mumbai neuro Oncological group and the Tata Memorial Centre. A highlight of the function was the official release of the selected art work drawn from the recently organised "ART FESTIVAL" of the Brain Tumour Foundation (BTF). Greeting cards and a beautifully designed "Calendar" (done by one of our survivors) were also officially released by Dr KA Dinshaw, Director, Tata Memorial Centre. Donations collected from the sale and auction of these art works will be dedicated to the welfare of people with CNS tumours and their families. Some photos appear below.
Tabla player	A young survivor with Dr Rakesh Jalali of the Brain Tumour Foundation of India.
Another survivor	Entries in the Art Festival


The Sydney-based Cure for Life Foundation has donated 630 kms to the World Walk target as a result of the efforts of 18 intrepid people who trekked 35 kms to Maccu Picchu in Peru while raising funds for Cure for Life.

The b.r.a.i.n. child organisation based at the SickKids Hospital, Toronto, Canada, and which is a group of parents, family and friends who have the common experience of caring for a child with a brain tumour or who are survivors themselves held a 5 kms Adventure Valley Walk with the combined distance of 153 kms being donated to the World Walk target. Karen Haas advises: "I made up little passports and walkers covered the seven continents. Volunteers at 5 checkpoints stamped the passports. The kids loved getting their passports stamped." That is an excellent idea for future walks involving young children.

Notes: The IBTA is aware that in the United States "tumour" is spelled "tumor" and will use that spelling for printed materials directed to that region. It was also the intention of the founding meeting that we seek to represent all tumours of the central nervous system. As is the practice in the scientific literature and clinical use, we use the words "brain tumour", not "brain cancer".

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