Walking for cancer cure

“ONLY one in five people with brain cancer survive past five years.”

That’s what is printed on flyers posted around Lake Weeroona by local woman Sarah Bearman.

She was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in November last year after experiencing issues with her vision and years of migraines.

Following an initial round of treatment, Ms Bearman joined a clinical trial for people with cancer where participants would be randomly selected to undergo either an additional six months of chemotherapy or become part of an observation group.

She was put into the latter group but wanted to find a way to contribute more to the research.

“I was kind of disappointed because I wanted to do what I could for the research and give people in the future a better chance of a better diagnosis,” Ms Bearman said.

“When I got put in the observation group I was like, ‘well I need to something else, I need to do something for this’.”

It was her mother’s suggestion to do the Walk 4 Brain Cancer fundraiser and the posters around the Lake are bringing awareness to the disease and making it easy for people to donate to help find a cure with a QR code.

“The thing I found when I got diagnosed is I didn’t know anything about brain cancer,” Ms Bearman said.

“Brain cancer is one of the most horrible and it’s not very well known or spoken about very often.

“I wanted to do those flyers for people to realise that it’s actually a pretty big deal and the survival rate isn’t as amazing as other cancers.”

Ms Bearman’s now raised $7000, well over her $5000 goal, and a further $1000 is still to be donated by her workplace.

She said the poster’s QR code, linked to her fundraising page, has allowed complete strangers to donate to the cause “every couple of days” and she remains supported by her family and friends.

“It’s been really humbling to know that I’ve got a lot of people in my corner. I hope that anyone else out there that has brain cancer or cancer in general has that network because they are very crucial to how you get through it,” she said.

“I wanted to say thank you to anyone who has ever sent a message, shown some love, supported or donated.”

To make a donation, visit bit.ly/3op6tYi.