Katie’s Run reaches goal, $100K to go to epilepsy research

 

By Robert Mackenzie

Published July 11, 2017

 

EpLink, an Ontario epilepsy research program, will receive $100,000 to go toward research thanks to this year’s Katie’s Run fundraiser.

 

Katie’s Run was held on June 24 at HHSS’s Gary G Brohman athletic field. The event, which has runners and walkers participating in 2.5 km, 5 km, and 10 km events, was started in 2012 in honour of Katie Woudstra, who had a seizure in 2010 and was later diagnosed with epilepsy.

 

This year, Katie’s Run set a goal of raising $33,334 in donations, with every donation being matched by $2 from the Ontario Brain Institute. While the final tally has yet to be fully counted, Katie’s Run says they have reached their goal.  

 

 “An investment of $100,000 directed towards EpLink from a single run is a remarkable achievement we should take pride in, as a community,”  Tom Mikklesen, president and scientific director of Ontario Brain Institute, said in a press release.  “Katie’s Run illustrates the strength of a community and the pivotal role each of us plays in accomplishing a common purpose – optimizing therapies that reduce and eliminate seizures while improving lives of people and families impacted by epilepsy.” 

 

Over its first five years, Katie’s Run earned a total of $100,000. This year there were close to 200 participants at the event, according to the press release. The goal of the run is to raise money to one day end epilepsy.