Registration Open for Brain Tumor Center Walk/Run Fundraiser

CINCINNATI—With the date—and maybe the stars—aligned for a "perfect 10,” the UC Brain Tumor Center is unveiling its new fundraiser, Walk Ahead for a Brain Tumor Cure, on 10/10/2010.

The 5-kilometer walk/run will begin at 10 a.m. at the World Peace Bell at Fourth and York streets in Newport. Participants will cross the Purple People Bridge and finish at Yeatman’s Cove on the Cincinnati riverfront. The route is wheelchair-accessible and includes two water stations. A celebration following the walk/run will feature music and refreshments.

Proceeds will benefit the research and education programs at the Brain Tumor Center at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Neuroscience Institute. Chairing the event are Wally Pagan and Christopher Knueven.

The entry fee is $30 online, $25 if paid by check, with no charge for children under 12. Participants are encouraged to form teams and recruit friends and family to support their walk/run efforts. Online registration is open at www.walkaheadforacure.com.

Event sponsors include Miller-Valentine Group, US Bank, Mayfield Clinic, Banks Corporation and Trauth Dairy, LLC. For information about sponsorships, please contact Gina Weitzel at (513) 558-6112 or gina.weitzel@uc.edu.

Some 215,000 people are stricken with brain tumors in America every year. About 45,000 of these individuals suffer primary tumors, which originate in the brain without warning and often without any known cause. An additional 170,000 people suffer metastatic brain tumors, whose source is a cancer elsewhere in the body.

During the last two decades, the incidence of brain tumors has increased 22 percent overall and 55 percent in people over 65 years of age.

The Brain Tumor Center is one of seven specialty centers within the UC Neuroscience Institute and is a close affiliate of the Mayfield Clinic neurosurgical practice and several specialty departments of University of Cincinnati Physicians. The center’s multidisciplinary clinical team of specialists uses multiple tumor-fighting therapies, from implantable chemotherapy wafers to shaped-beam radiation to promising vaccines. The center also makes new therapies available to patients through carefully managed clinical trials.

The UC Neuroscience Institute, a regional center of excellence, is dedicated to patient care, research, education, and the development of new treatments for stroke, brain and spinal tumors, epilepsy, traumatic brain and spinal injury, multiple sclerosis, neuromuscular disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, disorders of the senses (swallowing, voice, hearing, pain, taste and smell) and psychiatric conditions (bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression).