After Catarina Macedo’s mother, Rosa, passed away from glioblastoma in January 2020, Catarina felt she had to do something.

“At the time, I was in this whirlwind of grief,” Catarina says. “Even through her journey with glioblastoma and everything that came with it, my mom had such a fighting spirit. She didn’t want anyone to be sad or down. She just tried to live every day to the fullest.”

When Rosa would see young people going through radiation, as she was, “it broke her heart every time,” Catarina says.

“‘I’ve already lived my life,’” Catarina recalls Rosa, who passed away at age 62, telling her. “‘I’ve had my children. I’ve seen my grandchildren. But, these young people—it’s not fair.’”

Catarina was inspired to make a difference for the younger generation, at her mom’s urging.

“She wanted to make sure that my efforts would bring awareness and some kind of change for these young people,” Catarina says.

Making connections

Catarina started researching organizations she could get involved in, applying for a volunteer position with Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. She met Ben Seewald, who is now a support services specialist at the organization, but was then contributing as a volunteer in Kingston, Ont., where Catarina also lives.

In 2023, Catarina joined a volunteer committee that supported Kingston’s second annual Brain Tumour Walk, held at Lake Ontario Park. The following year, through Ben, Catarina connected with the Kingston Grenadiers—a local youth football team that lost one of its beloved coaches, Dale Sands, to glioblastoma in 2024.

They held a community walk between games, during a Grens Tackle Tumours event meant to raise funds and awareness for brain tumours. This event has become an annual occurrence and keeps growing each year.

“It’s about more than football,” Catarina says. “It’s about helping these young men from the Kingston Grenadiers be the best they can be outside of football. That’s something that spoke to me, especially as a mom to a 10-year-old boy. This organization cares so much about young people.”

She calls Kingston Grenadiers president, Alexandra Reyes-Walsh, “one of the most phenomenal people I’ve met,” not only because of her dedication to the sport, but because of her dedication to the young people playing it.

Catarina also collaborated with Dr. Teresa Purzner, a neurosurgeon scientist at Queen’s University and Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) who developed the Integrated Brain Tumour Program (IBTP), to improve care for brain tumour patients. For her part, Catarina worked with local businesses and hotels to provide discounted rates to those being treated for glioblastoma at KHSC.

When it came time to decide how to approach the Brain Tumour Walk this year, Catarina decided to call on her connections.

“I’m one of those people who thinks, if you have a lot of people working towards the same goal, supporting the brain tumour community, why not bring them together instead of reinventing the wheel?”

“Even though we each had our vision of what we wanted to do, I thought we could come together in a collaborative effort for the brain tumour community—so, that’s what we did,” Catarina says.

Coming together for a cause

Catarina suggested a week-long event, Kingston Brain Tumour Week, which kicked off with a Brain Tumour Walk, followed by the announcement of the IBTP partners and culminated with the Grens Tackle Tumours games.

“The community really came together,” Catarina says. “The thing I loved most was the ability to talk with family members and patients about their stories.”

While many stories resonated with Catarina, she was struck by the full-circle moment at the Brain Tumour Walk with the participation of Rob Baker of The Tragically Hip, an iconic Canadian band that originated in Kingston and lost its frontman, Gord Downie, to glioblastoma.

“In 2018, I was in Portugal on a family vacation when The Tragically Hip was playing its last show in Kingston,” she says. “For some reason, I felt it was a really important moment and I needed to stream the concert. I’d never heard of glioblastoma before Gord Downie. And just seeing how courageous he was—even though he was not well, he was fighting—it had an impact on me. I watched this man share his story and his fight, and then it became our story and our fight.”

“And so, the fact that Rob came out, that he did the walk with our community and stayed the whole time, was really powerful to me because it showed that at the end of the day, we’re all people trying to give other people hope and support,” Catarina continues.

The event was emceed by Bill Welychka, a Canadian TV personality who calls Kingston home, and attended by hundreds of others. In total, the Kingston Brain Tumour Walk/Grens Tackle Tumours team brought in $32,055.93, making them the top team fundraiser for 2025 and earning them a Cup of Hope.

“It took all of us to come together for this kind of achievement,” Catarina says, of her team’s Cup of Hope win. “I want to highlight the committee but also the community in general. We have such a fantastic, generous community. Little city, big heart, for sure.”