‘Keep fighting’: Walk raises thousands for brain cancer research

For the fifth time in as many years, residents ventured out on the 27-km Warrior Walk to raise awareness and funds for people who have been diagnosed with a brain tumour or brain cancer.

Supporting Brain Cancer Canada this year, warriors and event organizers Shaylan Spurway Bubinas, Jordan Garson and Kyleigh Provenzano were joined by friends and family at Anna McCrea Public School on Saturday morning before making the citywide trek.

The 27 km is symbolic as an average of 27 Canadians find out they have a brain tumour every day.

The walk was originally formed a few months after Kyleigh Provenzano found out she had a low-grade glioma in October of 2019 – a cancerous brain tumour that affects her speech.

She ended up having surgery this past March.

“My tumour grew quite a bit since last year, so I made the decision to go in and get surgery done” she told SooToday. “It was really difficult the first year when I was initially diagnosed, but I’ve been living with it for so long now, so my mental health is in a pretty good place.”

For Garson, this is her second year involved with the walk as an organizer after she received her own brain tumour diagnosis in 2022.

Despite undergoing an unsuccessful surgery and 30 rounds of radiation, Garson was in high spirits ahead of this morning’s walk.

“It’s really nice to see our community come together and support this,” she said. “Seeing that people are willing to walk with us is a big deal.”

Bubinas, who was diagnosed with a non-cancerous brain tumour in 2016, is happy to share her scans remain clear.

Her team of warriors urges anyone who suspects something isn’t quite right to get checked.

“If I have any message, it’s to trust your body and advocate for yourself,” she said. “If anybody ever thinks there might be something more, just look into it, because it’s happened to all three of us”

“We all kind of felt there wasn’t something quite right,” she added. “We kept pushing and pushing and looking for those answers. The care and the support are out there, so just keep fighting.”

This year’s Warrior Walk has raised more than $8,300 as of Saturday morning.

All funds will be donated to the research side of Brain Cancer Canada.

Readers interested in donating can click here.