At only 11, Mason Donkin is already getting ready for his fifth year of raising money to help sick kids.
Mason and his family are gearing up in preparation for the fifth annual Walk for Chiari, benefiting Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, to be held in Bradford on Saturday, July 22.
The walk follows a loop starting at the BWG Leisure Centre, located at 471 West Park Ave., and then goes around Bradford District High School and the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library before coming back to the centre.
The Donkin family is hoping to raise a total of $80,000 inclusive with previous years and have already raised more than $60,000, after surpassing $50,000 last year, for which they will be be recognized on the hospital’s donor wall later this year.
“Last year was our biggest year. We raised over $23,000,” said Jennifer Donkin, Mason’s mother.
The event is also set to feature, music, lawn games, face painting, a barbecue, an ice-cream truck, bracelet making and various vendors, plus a warm-up before the walk hosted by Cathy-Zumba in da House.
In addition, expect a raffle for a bicycle and a silent auction featuring: Toronto Maple Leafs items, Toronto Raptors tickets, TFC tickets, Michael Kors purses and accessories, a Miele vacuum, gift cards to restaurants in town and surrounding area and passes to Casa Loma.
Jennifer shared a document showing more than 40 businesses from Bradford and the surrounding area support the event.
“It’s really amazing to see how a small community like Bradford, and now surrounding areas, pull together and support our cause and SickKids hospital. We’re very honoured that we get the support that we get,” she said.
According to a representative of the SickKids Foundation, the funding has helped them continue their recruitment for the multi-year Genetics of Chiari Study, as well as allowed them to join the Park-Reeves Research Consortium, which they said is the largest multi-institution research network for the study of syringomyelia related to Chiari malformation.
When he was four years old in 2016, Mason, now 11, was diagnosed with Chiari malformation (CM) which is a condition where part of the brain bulges through a normal opening in the back of the skull where it joins the spinal canal.
According the SickKids Foundation, this puts pressure on parts of the brain and spinal cord, and can cause mild to severe symptoms. They say research shows that CM occurs in about one in 1,000 births.
It took almost four years of different diagnoses and treatments, before doctors were able to determine Mason had CM.
“Once we got the diagnosis we instantly said, ‘We need to spread awareness for this condition so that there are more diagnosis that are happening sooner,’ and so we started doing the walk, and we researched how to become a SickKids ambassador,” Jennifer said.
The first walk was in 2017 and ran again in 2018 and 2019, but had to be put on hold in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, before returning in 2022.
In addition to raising funds for the hospital, Jennifer said the family also wanted to organize the walk as a way to raise awareness to help other families who encounter the condition.
“When we first got his diagnoses we didn’t know what to expect, we didn’t know what Chiari malformation was and we hadn’t heard of it before,” she said.
Since then, Jennifer shared that she has received emails from families of people diagnosed with CM, expressing their thanks.
“Getting that on top of all the support that we get is truly heart warming,” she said.
In 2019, Mason joined the foundation’s ambassador program, through which the foundation says there are currently 130 individuals and families who share their stories for fundraising purposes.
“He loves being an ambassador for SickKids, and he loves sharing his story. He’s the youngest of four boys in our home and he’s the only one who navigates medical issues, so I feel being an ambassador makes him feel connected,” Jennifer said.
As part of the program, Mason has been on billboards and in commercials for the foundation.
Jennifer shared that Mason’s last MRI last year showed that his CM was stable, and doctors are now monitoring him for symptoms.
“He’s in great hands at SickKids and we know that and that’s why we feel it’s important for us to continue fundraising for the hospital. We’ve seen first-hand how it can change a child’s quality of life and the support that they give continually,” Jennifer said.
Mason was resting in preparation for an appointment at the hospital and was unavailable for interview.
Anyone interested can donate online at https://fundraise.sickkidsfoundation.com/walkforchiari.
Anyone looking to volunteer or find more information about the event can email [email protected].
