Members of Port Macquarie running group The Plodders will don a beanie this Sunday, June 18 in support of the Mark Hughes Foundation (MHF) and to raise money for brain cancer.
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Brain cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in children and adults aged under 40-years-old in Australia.
The Plodders will meet at Town Beach at 7am to do a run or walk with a distance of their choice. They will finish at Town Beach at 8am. Members of the public are invited to attend.
In August 2016 Nicole Champion’s family received the news that her 65-year-old mother Christine Tyas had stage four Glioblastoma Multiforme stage four brain cancer.
Mrs Champion said in the lead up to her mother’s diagnosis she suffered from severe headaches and was generally not herself.
Within a week she underwent major surgery. After the surgery Mrs Tyas discovered she was eligible for the Mark Hughes Foundation six week drug trial which took place in Newcastle. As part of the treatment Mrs Tyas also had radiation therapy.
Since January the family have discovered the tumour has increased and Mrs Tyas was taken off the trial.
“My mother’s body didn’t react well to the chemotherapy,” Mrs Champion said.
“There was nothing more that they could do.”
The family is currently waiting to hear if Mrs Tyas will be eligible to participate in another drug trial which will be based at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney.
Mrs Champion said the period since the diagnosis has ‘been a really awful time’.
Up until her diagnosis Mrs Tyas was working full time and was ‘perfectly healthy’.
Mrs Champion said her mother had planned to retire in 2017.
“She and my dad were going to travel the world together,” she said.
Mrs Champion described her father as ‘a rock’.
“He said he took a vow 45 years ago and this is what it is all about,” she said.
As part of the Beanies for Brain Cancer event there will be a barbecue at Town Beach from 8am.
People are encouraged to purchase a beanie from their nearest IGA to support the Mark Hughes Foundation.
It is free entry for those who run or walk in a MHF Beanie or $5 if people do not have one. All money raised will be donated to the cause.