Senator for Tasmania, Catryna Bilyk, announced that arrangements are in place for Hobart’s third Walk4BrainCancer to raise funds for Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, which will commence midday on Sunday at Dru Point Bicentennial Park in Margate.

The Hobart walk has had an overwhelming response, with over 200 walkers registered and more than $30,000 raised already towards Cure Brain Cancer’s nationwide target of $1.2 million.

The relaxed and family friendly 2-kilometre walk along the banks of North West Bay will also be accompanied by a fundraising sausage sizzle and entertainment by local Fiona Hutchison.

The walk’s organiser, Senator Bilyk, said that Walk4BrainCancer Hobart has been embraced by the local community and continues to grow in success each year.

“I am grateful to all the volunteers, walkers and sponsors who have helped me make this possible by joining the fight against one of Australia’s deadliest diseases,” Senator Bilyk said.

This year’s walk will begin with a short memorial service featuring paper cranes. Personal messages of hope, support or condolence can be written on the cranes which will then be hung on a nearby tree.
Origami paper and instructions will be supplied on the day.

Matthew Browne, Chief Executive Officer (Acting) of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation said, “Walk4BrainCancer is an incredibly powerful movement of people from many different walks of life who bond through a common motivation to beat brain cancer.

“Senator Bilyk embodies this special community, which is mobilising at Walk4BrainCancer to honour loved ones and help rewrite the brain cancer story for other families across Tasmania, Australia and the world.”

Anyone wishing to register for the walk and raise funds can do so online at www.walk4braincancer.com.au/events/42/w4bc-hobart

Senator Bilyk said that anyone who has not registered by Sunday can still do so in person, and pay by cash or EFTPOS (participants are still encouraged to bring cash for the sausage sizzle).

Facts about brain cancer
• Brain cancer kills more children than any other disease in Australia[1]
• Only 2 in 10 people will survive brain cancer for five years and that has been the case for the last 30 years[2]
• Brain cancer costs more per patient than any other cancer because it is highly debilitating, affects people in their prime and often means family members cannot work if they become carers
• It receives a small fraction of research funding – less than 5% of NHMRC cancer research funding.[3]

[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010 – 2014), 3303.0 Causes of Death, Australia (2009 – 2013), ‘Table 1.3: Underlying cause of death, Selected causes by age at death, numbers and rates, Australia, Ages 1 – 14 (2009 – 2013)
[2] AIHW 2012. Cancer survival and prevalence in Australia: period estimates from 1982 to 2010. Cancer Series no. 69. Cat. No. CAN 65. Canberra: AIHW pg 42. Source link and AIHW “Cancer in Australia overview 2014”, period estimates from 2007 – 2011, Table B5(b): Survival and prevalence of brain cancer
[3] The Cost of Cancer NSW – report by Access Economics, Australia wide, April 2007
SENATOR CATRYNA BILYK DEPUTY OPPOSITION WHIP IN THE SENATE SENATOR FOR TASMANIA