13th Annual Sharing Hope Walk
Saturday, June 2, 2018
UConn Alumni Center – Storrs, CT
Story written by Jodi Kaplan
Life changes every day, but who could imagine the life change that our family encountered on February 1, 2006. That was the day that Steve underwent neurosurgery and was diagnosed with glioblastoma…just a word at that point, but what we soon learned was horrifying:
- malignant brain tumor
- treatable, but not curable
- statistics that we don’t even want to hear about
“Accept the diagnosis. Defy the prognosis.”
That is the mantra that our family immediately adopted!
We made a choice at that moment to not give up. We chose to fight by raising money for brain tumor research. Four months later, we hosted the 1st Annual Sharing Hope Walk with the tagline Walk the Walk…Talk the Talk! Twelve years later, we are still Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk. As we begin promoting our 13th Annual Sharing Hope Walk, we take great pride in raising more than $224,000 for the ABTA.
This grass roots effort has raised a lot of money, but more importantly has raised a lot of awareness. Each year we have new participants, unfortunately, due to too many newly diagnosed brain tumors. Our goal, first and foremost, is to share hope. We try and keep this event upbeat and positive. We have lost some of our friends along the way, but their families continue to support our efforts so that others can have a fighting chance.
We chose the ABTA as our charity of choice because they were our main resource from the beginning. Their money supports some of the best brain tumor research centers in the country. The ABTA has not only provided information, but also support for Steve and for our Sharing Hope Walk. They have been a true partner!
Steve is the poster boy for Sharing Hope. Twelve and half years later, he is still defying the prognosis. Steve’s strength, determination and courage has been an inspiration to everyone! He has pulled that strength from the love and support that he continues to get from friends, family and colleagues.
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Interested in hosting your own event for the ABTA? Check out our Breakthrough Your Way program.
