The annual Brilliant Night event is helping researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital make transformational discoveries.
In the context of an entire lifespan, five years may not seem like much. But if you’ve only been given a few months to live, five years can feel like a priceless gift.
When Leslie Hacker’s mom, Susan Kendall, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a fast-growing and aggressive form of brain cancer, it felt like a death sentence.
“To say this type of diagnosis is a nightmare is an understatement,” Hacker says. “Most patients don’t survive past the six-month mark. My mom was basically told to get her affairs in order.”
“It gave us time we needed to be able to spend with her,” says Hacker. “Time for her to travel, celebrate her 60th birthday, spend with family and friends before she passed away.”
The event’s entire proceeds fund Petrecca’s field-changing research, which has been downloaded by glioblastoma labs across the world, is now the reference in subsequent glioblastoma studies, and has provided the field with a basic foundation for which to develop therapies.
“The discovery of brain cancer stem cells was a major breakthrough,” says Petrecca. “It’s now very clear that these stem cells are the important population to target. Not only do we now understand what gives rise to the glioblastoma, the same factors also give rise to the recurrences post-treatment.”
Since 2020, the centre’s research has focused on understanding what causes a normal neural stem cell to convert to a cancer stem cell and how that can be used to develop therapies.
“For the first time in the history of glioblastoma we know what cell populations are dividing and what should be targeted,” Petrecca says. “We know what’s causing resistance and we know the mechanisms responsible for their persistent growth.” Seven apparent developmental pathways are now being tested concurrently.
While Petrecca admits glioblastoma is a complex disease, he says the latest advances give him a lot of hope. “We have gained more knowledge in the past five years than in the last 100 years and not just in glioblastoma.”
The fundraiser acts not only as a source of financing for research, but as a source of support for those directly affected.
“When my mom was sick I was constantly looking for support groups,” Hacker says. “I want people to know this community exists, because this cancer is not like any other kind of cancer out there. It’s mentally and physically traumatizing.”
Over the last 10 years, A Brilliant Night has raised over $8.3 million for the Neuro’s research.
“It cannot be underestimated how important philanthropy is to stimulate all forms of research,” says Petrecca. “Governmental funding for research is extremely limited and very conservative in its nature, and this event is really what has allowed research that has changed the nature of how people think about glioblastoma.”
“A small group of people in a small city in Canada have changed the way glioblastoma researchers are developing therapeutics for the disease and the way fundamental researchers think about the disease,” he says. “I think that’s a big deal.”
Toula Drimonis is a Montreal journalist and the author of We, the Others: Allophones,Immigrants, and Belonging in Canada.