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Sights & Sounds: Glioblastoma Awareness Day (#GBMDay) 2020

Published on July 23, 2020 in Brain Tumor Information, Events, Fundraising, Research, Our Impact, Leadership Spotlight, In the Community, Legislative Issues, Take Action

Guest Author: National Brain Tumor Society Staff

Perhaps Dr. Ned Sharpless, Director of the National Cancer Institute, summed up Glioblastoma (GBM) Awareness Day 2020 best when he said during NBTS’s Defeating GBM: A Virtual Town Hall event, “Events like this are really important to re-energize the community so we can join together and make progress in a disease that where progress has been elusive…We’re all in this together and motivated to see progress and I think we will…With collective action…we can together find some hope in this disease where hope is in short supply.”

Or, perhaps it was glioblastoma survivor/advocate Adam Hayden when he said, during the same town hall, “Candidly, [my wife, Whitney, and I] wonder when our youngest’s memory will be good enough that — because my life is threatened by glioblastoma — that we can count on him remember his dad. That is the type of urgency we are up against with glioblastoma.”

Maybe it was glioblastoma advocate and founder of the StacheStrong foundation, Colin Gerner, when he posted on social media, “Today is National Glioblastoma Awareness Day. What a thing to type. When my brother was first diagnosed, we felt that it was the first time everyone heard the term Glioblastoma or GBM. Flash forward 3 years and we have a National day of awareness. Why does this matter? For FAR too long this incurable disease has lacked the National attention it not only deserves but NEEDS…Today is evidence that the tides are turning and more is being done to combat GBM. More attention, resources, and ultimately funds and awareness to eradicate GBM…When you’re diagnosed, every day is Glioblastoma Day. You can’t escape it and you can’t take a day off. So for all those both fighting and deceased, please join us today, July 22nd, for National Glioblastoma Awareness Day. Light your torch and follow us to a brighter tomorrow!”

Our CEO, David Arons, summed up his remarks at the Defeating GBM town hall by noting that a “national and international strategy for GBM is emerging” and that the country can come together to raise resources, leverage collaboration, better include patients in the research process, and advocate.

The one thing that was clear from all who stepped forward to share their experience with GBM yesterday (7/22/20) was how important #GBMDay is to highlight, for all Americans, the urgency with which progress is needed for this disease. It is the coming together of individual patients, survivors, care partners, advocates, advocacy organizations, companies, cancer centers, Congress, and government agencies to unite as one community and speak with one voice on a designated day that we are able to convey the challenges, as well as great opportunities, that lay before us to finally conquer and cure GBM (and all brain tumors), once and for all.

Cindy McCain — whose husband, the late Senator John McCain’s, passing was a significant influence in spurring Congress to action to introduce the Glioblastoma Awareness Day resolution — said it pointedly and simply: “Time is urgent. We need a cure.”

So, as we share some of the sights and sounds of #GBMDay 2020, NBTS also would like to thank all the participants in Glioblastoma Awareness Day and everyone who made it possible. This includes our sponsors (pictured below); our champions in Congress; all our featured speakers during our two Honor, Learn, Act sessions; our Town Hall panelists, guests, and moderator; and everyone who shared a tweet, used the hashtag, made a gift, or spoke their truth. We are forever grateful.