17th annual Meagan’s Walk to Toronto’s SickKids hospital brings out thousands

The 17th annual Meagan’s Walk took place Saturday morning in Toronto’s downtown core, in support of pediatric brain tumour research.

The event started at 10 a.m., and thousands of participants walked the five kilometres from the Fort York National Historic site to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

When participants arrived at SickKids, everyone held hands and formed a human hug around the hospital.

“We’re participating for dear friends who lost their daughter to brain cancer last fall,” first-time participant Robin Dickie told Global News. “And we think it’s really important, childhood cancers are just something that should never happen.

“It’s lovely, it’s really nice to see the huge support. There’s not much you can do when you’ve lost someone, but you still can make people feel better.”

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Rosanna Andino participated for the second time and told Global News she is “thankful” for SickKids because her daughter underwent brain surgery at the hospital and recovered.

“What they’ve done for my children and the children of others — I’ve been at SickKids, so many people have been at SickKids,” she said. “Amazing doctors and wonderful staff.”

Toronto Mayor John Tory, who also participated in the event, proclaimed May 12 “Pediatric Brain Tumour Day.”

“The City of Toronto supports organizations and individuals committed to raising awareness about diseases, conditions and illnesses that affect all Canadians,” he said in a statement.

The event is named after Meagan Bebenek, who was four years old when she was diagnosed with an inoperable and malignant brain tumour in 2001. She died six months later.

Denise Bebenek, Meagan’s mother, founded Meagan’s Walk: Creating a Circle of Hope to help other children and their families who are suffering.

“It was our family’s experience that taught us a lot about brain tumours – the leading cause of cancer-related death in young people under age 20.  I knew then that something had to be done to change this statistic to help our children and their families while journeying this path. To let them know that they are not alone,” said a statement on the organization’s website.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was our family's experience that taught us a lot about brain tumours - the leading cause of cancer-related death in young people under age 20.  I knew then that something had to be done to change this statistic to help our children and their families while journeying this path. To let them know that they are not alone," said a statement on the organization's <a href="http://www.meaganswalk.com/meet-the-founder/">website</a>.

The event hit the $5-million mark fundraising milestone in 2017’s 16th annual walk.

—With files from Oriena Vuong