More than 11,000 Race for Hope and raise $2.3 million for brain cancer research

Guest blogger Max Wallace is the CEO of Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (ABC2), a Case Foundation partner organization and co-beneficiary of today's Race for Hope, DC.

We're thrilled about yet another wildly successful Race for Hope held here in Washington, DC, this morning at Freedom Plaza.  The Race for Hope was started 12 years ago by a dedicated group of volunteers who wanted to raise money to support research aimed at curing brain cancer. Proceeds from the race now go to our organization, Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure, and to the National Brain Tumor Society. 

More than 11,000 participants were there at the 9:00 am start and shared their rousing support for the over 320 yellow-clad brain tumor survivors who led the way across the starting line with our Honorary Race Chairman, musician David Cook. Over 490 teams formed for the event wore their own unique team colors and carried signs showing support for loved ones, family members and friends stricken by this disease.  

After everyone completed the course, the volunteer chairs presented a number of awards. For the second year in a row, David Cook was acknowledged not only for his role as honorary chair of the race but for leading all teams in fundraising with nearly $140,000 raised by his team by race time.  Many of you may recall that David lost his brother Adam, who had been valiantly battling brain cancer for a number of years, just hours before last year's race began. David spoke of how much it meant to come back to the Race for Hope this year, accompanied by his family and friends, to honor his brother and such an important cause.  We hope that David will continue to join us for many years to come.

We are humbled by the chance to join with so many survivors, family members, friends and supporters in helping to celebrate life while we fight to end brain cancer.   The money raised from today's race will enable us to continue to drive the most cutting edge work by the nation’s leading brain cancer researchers. 

We will continue to work to raise money and support the research that is so important to all of us.  To that end, it is still possible to help by contributing to David Cook’s team (or to any of the other teams, or even to the Race itself) by going to the Race website at www.curebraintumors.org. We will always value your support in this effort and we would love to have you join with David and with us going forward.  I look forward to seeing you at next year’s Race for Hope.