London, Ont. family raising funds for brain tumour research wants to be 'Dunn with Cancer'

London, Ont. -

A London family is honouring their daughter this weekend after she died last year from one of the most aggressive forms of cancer -- and along the way they want to raise awareness and money for research.

Allison Dunn, a mother of three young children, died at the age of 33 just four months after being diagnosed with Glioblastoma.

“Just helping people, that’s what Allison was all about,” says her father Wayne Dunn. “She just cared.”

To honour Allison, the Dunn with Cancer Run was established just weeks after she died. It takes place again this Saturday afternoon at Springbank Park in London.

“It’s a walk and race 5K and we have a BBQ pit and what we're asking is for people to register for COVID tracing,” says Dunn.

Susan Marshall is the CEO of the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada and her son Brent died when he was 24, so she knows the importance of research dollars.

“Raising money for Glioblastoma research is really so, so important to our community and to us as parents of children who have died from this often devastating disease,” says Marshall.

The foundation says 27 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour every day in Canada. So far this year in London and Middlesex there have been 117 cases reported and 102 in Windsor and Essex.

When this event was held last year it was a big success. They were able to raise more than $226,000 for the Dunn with Cancer Research Fund and the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada.

Dunn adds, “To be able to help other people that either have or will get in it and their families is what drives us to do this and that’s what’s going to make a difference.”