Let’s go Grey in May - together

Why is May an important month for you?

May is Brain Cancer Awareness Month.

This month we are honouring my father’s story, Bruce Marian, who was diagnosed with terminal Glioblastomas. It is a highly aggressive type of astrocytoma tumor, there is currently no known cure for it.

Bruce was diagnosed on November 27th 2023 and passed away from it on February 7th 2024. He was given survival rates of 12-15 months. He only got 2 months and 2 weeks.

In Bruce’s final month of his life, he was told to start ticking off his bucket list. With this he smiled and said “I’ve been doing that my whole life”. Although knowing what the future held for himself, he sat there with such honour and took pride in his life. This is something that I will never forget and carry with me.

Bruce spent his final weeks surrounded by loved ones, food, music, beers and the ocean. All of his favourite types of love.

He taught myself that in life, it’s really that simple. Don’t hold yourself back, do all the things that you love and that make you happy. You’ll never go wrong in life that way. And so, this is how we will continue his legacy.

What that cancer did to my father Bruce was pure evil and I wouldn’t wish it apon anyone. But the thing is, thousands of families experience what my family did. Our family was very fortunate though in the fact that we had an amazing support group to help us with all our needs. But unfortunately there is a lot of families in Australia that can’t access it or don’t know what help to look for. We want to share what we were given. So if Leila and I can help get more awareness and support around this community with brain cancer. It really does make all the difference. Because these people that are going through this illness deserve so much more!

Leila and I have gone on many adventures together. From camp trips on the coast to out in the bush. We’re pretty good when it comes down to travelling and doing spontaneous things. But this next journey of ours, it’s going to be our biggest so far. We’ve heard that west is best.

Honouring how Bruce lived his life to his fullest. May 28th we will be heading out west for 2 weeks to Tatts Finke Desert Race. If you’ve never heard of it before it is classed as one of the worlds hardest enduro comp races. An iconic annual off-road motorsport event for cars, buggies, trophy trucks, SXS and bikes just out of Alice Springs. Leila will be racing a total of 480km June 5th-6th.

Leila is currently training 7 days a week. You’ll find her at the gym, pilates and boxing all while still running her own business. She is determined and dedicated to this cause. She’s been told that she wouldn’t be able to do it. Leila’s ready to prove to people that when you’ve got the right motive and you dedicate all your time to it. You’ll be able to conquer anything. She is an inspiration and a wonderful human being. Words cannot begin to describe how grateful our family is for how she has gifted us with this space of helping us raise awareness.

The money that we raise will be distributed amongst a few different local foundations. These will include AWQLD Ambulance Wish Queensland, Palliative Care Queensland & Katie Rose Cottage. We are looking into a Brain Cancer Research group to donate to as well.