Passion For Life Run Benefits Local Boy With Rare Brain Cancer

WALLED LAKE (WWJ) - The 6th Annual Passion for Life Run takes center-stage in Walled Lake Saturday morning.

The run benefits a different "Inspirational Family" each year, and the profits are split between the family and medical research at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.

Whether or not you can participate in the race, one Commerce Township mother is hoping you will donate to the cause that raises money for pediatric cancer research.

Shelly Pesta's son Jake was chosen as the Life Run's 2013 inspiring survivor. In 2009 when Jake was 5-years-old, he was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive Thalamic Brain Tumor. According to the Center For Disease Control, Jake is one of only seven children in the world to battle the condition.

Pesta said currently, there is little being done to help children beat brain cancer.

"So often our children are left behind with research at less than three percent of all monies going into 120 different versions of pediatric cancer," she said. "Pediatric brain tumors are out there, and they're not funded. There is no research, very, very little reasearch, and very little goes into these programs. We're losing scientists every day because there's no money to fund these types of programs, and these kids are dying unnecessarily."

The run starts at 9 a.m. March 23 at Bayside Bar & Grill in Walled Lake. The cost to participate is $35 for adults and $20 for children.

For more information, visit www.Passion-for-Life.org.

MORE: Family Of Boy With Rare Brain Cancer Seeks $2 Million For Research