A big shout out to our Fundraising Group Brainstorm, set up by Katie Smith (pictured wearing a yellow tutu) and her husband Luke (in white frame sunglasses), who entered a team of 15, including Frankie the dog, in the Royal Sutton Fun Run 2023 last weekend to help find brain tumour cure.
Led by Katie, who was diagnosed with an oligoastrocytoma in 2015, aged 30, and told she may not live to see her 40th birthday, the Mad Hatters team, as they called themselves, stood out as they carried an enormous pink hat around the 8.5-mile course.
Katie said: “It was a beautiful day and the atmosphere was brilliant, with so many people lining the streets – although my feet are still quite sore a couple of days afterwards! I was blown away by the number of people who added a donation to our bucket during the race and at the pub where we went for a celebratory drink afterwards.
“I was very fortunate to be having one of my ‘good days’ on the day of the race. Having had radiotherapy which brought on an early menopause and being on HRT and anti-seizure meds means that I often suffer with extreme fatigue, insomnia and headaches. Needless to say, I have planned to have a restful week now to help me recover!”
Brainstorm and the Mad Hatters team are well on their way to reaching £1,000 in donations and are very grateful to Specsavers Sutton Coldfield and Mere Green who chose Brainstorm raising funds for Brain Tumour Research as their charity to support this year. Director Andrew Pennicott also took part in the Royal Sutton race and with support from colleagues and friends has also raised nearly £1,000 as part of his local Specsavers’ fundraising for the charity.
Brainstorm’s next event will be a quiz night on 23rd June at Old Swinford Hospital School in Stourbridge.
To donate in support of Brainstorm’s Pink Mad Hatters go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ThePinkMadHatters