A Walk That Turned into a Cause in Greendale

What started as a walk 13 years ago has turned into a cause. Families, friends and residents gathered in Greendale’s Gazebo Park, 5710 Broad St., early Saturday morning to walk in memory of loved ones stricken by brain cancer.

Some have been gone for years now, having lost their battles with the disease. Others, like Ashley Austad, 24, of New Berlin, are survivors. Austad was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor three weeks after she and her husband, Matt, were married. On Saturday, she proudly wore a T-shirt that proclaimed she’s a survivor. 

She had a group of 16 people with her to walk Saturday, including her 14-month-old son, Hunter. Ashley’s sister-in-law gets credit for coming up with the shirts their group was sporting Saturday, which read “IT’S ALL BENIGN,” which for Ashley’s family is just another way of saying, “It’s all good.”

Nancy Patneaude and her friend, Shirley Devecka, both of Greendale, participated in Saturday’s event. Patneaude’s daughter-in-law, Kelly, lost her mother to brain cancer. Nancy wrote down a list of all the people she knows who have been diagnosed with brain cancer. Patneaude said she wanted to walk Saturday because she thinks it’s important to raise both awareness and money to help with scientific research.

Ashley and her family and friends were among the nearly 180 people who turned out for the second annual walk according to Cris Reischl, a public health nurse with the Greendale Public Health Department and one of the organizers of the event. Last year, participants helped raise more than $1,000, Reischl said, which was donated to the American Brain Tumor Association.

Organizers did not have a total yet of the amount raised from this year’s event.