2/17/10 - "GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME" Blog Entry

Third Annual GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME Brain Tumor Awareness Walk registration now open!

As many of you know by now, I established The Kelly Heinz-Grundner Brain Tumor Foundation (KHG) in September of 2005 as a tribute to my beloved wife and best friend, Kelly, who died of a malignant brain tumor at the age of 31 in September of 2004. My goal in starting KHG was to play a significant role in changing the course of this disease. Specifically, I wanted to do the one thing that no one else in the brain tumor community had done effectively to date – raise awareness and educate the public and medical professionals about the facts, symptoms and proper diagnosis techniques.

While research is incredibly important and, ultimately, the long-term key to success, there is a lot that can be gained from a properly designed and well-executed awareness campaign. Most importantly, we can help those who are unfortunately stricken by the disease to get diagnosed faster and, in turn, give them a better chance at an improved outcome. In some cases, we may even help to save someone’s life. In addition, we can help to bring more people into the fight. This is critically important because there is so much work still to do.

With that in mind, we officially launched the "Get Your Head In The Game®" Brain Tumor Awareness Movement in 2008. There are several key components to the Movement, including a general awareness campaign for the public, a medical education training program for physicians and nurses and a collaborative brain tumor awareness alliance. However, one of the most important components is our "GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME®" Brain Tumor Awareness Walk in Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday, May 1st (registration available on link below).

http://www.khgfoundation.org/walk10/index.php

This year is our Third Annual Event and we are hoping we can keep building on the positive momentum from the first two events – in terms of the number of event participants, the amount of money we raise for the cause and the amount of fun the event delivers. Trust me, this is no small task given the enormous success of years one and two. For those of you who were at these events, you know what I mean. In fact, our walk committee decided our best bet to break our record was to change a few elements this year and shake things up a bit.

Don’t worry, there will still be plenty of really great food, exciting activities for the kids and, of course, lots of amazing people, including our very talented and inspirational host from last year, singer/songwriter and two-time brain tumor survivor, Chris Stein, who is coming back by popular demand.

However, on the new side, I am proud to announce that this year’s live musical performance will be conducted by legendary local favorite, Club Phred. This group has rocked a lot of major charity events in Delaware and they have a huge following, so, needless to say, I was ecstatic when they offered to play for us. In addition, we changed the walk course slightly to feature more of the completely revitalized Riverfront District, including the beautiful shops and residences at Justison Landing and more of the scenic River Walk along the Christiana River. If you haven’t seen this bit of ‘architectural reconstructive surgery,’ believe me, you are going to be amazed.

In closing, I would like to thank you in advance for joining us at our Third Annual "Get Your Head In The Game®" Brain Tumor Awareness Walk. Please know that by participating in this event you are making a strong statement against this terribly dark disease. We have a lot of work to do to attain our goal of bringing brain tumors into the national spotlight and changing the course of this disease for future generations. However, with your continued support, we are definitely taking some very important steps together!