Hundreds participate in second annual Neuro Race to support neuroscience

The Neuro Race was held today in the city’s west end to support the neuroscience department at Kingston General Hospital.

Jillian Asselstine was one of the participants at the 2nd annual Neuro Race.

She ran to support her longtime friend Kyla Tozer. About 10 years ago, Tozer was diagnosed with a brain tumor and then treated. After recovering, Tozer decided to give back and support other patients by organizing a race.

“When she wanted to organize this race, I couldn’t do anything else but support her,” said Asselstine.

Asselstine and Tozer met while working in retail together about a decade ago and have been friends since then.

Their friendship got them through the devastating diagnosis.

“She obviously had to have surgery, to have it removed. And with that I think comes a lot of personal struggle,” Asselstine said.

Tozer made it through her surgery and recovered. After her tough journey, she decided to take her negative experience and turn it into a positive and that’s when she founded the Neuro Race.

“It’s great to have an event like this because we get to meet so many fellow survivors, and talk about it. Unless you’ve been in that situation it’s really hard to understand what everyone’s going through” says Tozer.

The event brought in 600 participants, from one-year-olds to people in their 80’s.

There was a half marathon and a 2, 5 and 10 km path for participants.

Last year the Neuro Race raised $2,600, and this year they hope to beat that.

Money raised will be donated to the Kingston General Hospital’s neuroscience department.

“It’s just really nice to give back and say thank you, because in health care that doesn’t happen often enough,” Tozer said.

Tozer hopes to have up to a 1,000 participants at next year’s Neuro Race, and maybe even reach her fundraising goal of $100,000.

Regardless of how many people sign up next year, Asselstine says “every year when she runs it, I’ll be here supporting her.”