ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As Childhood Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, one grandfather in our community has run a 5K every day in honor or memory of a child who has suffered or passed from the disease. 

Korey Brown is the undersheriff of Monroe County, but he’s also a husband, a father and grandfather.

“My grandson, at four months old was diagnosed with a neuroblastoma,” Brown says.

After months of aggressive treatment at Golisano Children’s Hospital, little Joel was finally able to get back home to his family.

“From the treatment from the neuroblastoma, a year later, he got secondary leukemia,” says Brown.

It was touch and go for months.

“Joel was in the hospital and he had three buddies at the hospital with him. He is the only one still alive today. It’s just very hard on families and on people. So, you don’t think about childhood cancer until all you think about is childhood cancer and what you can do about it,” Brown says.

Joel is now six years old, cancer-free, and thriving. For that, Undersheriff Brown wants to pay it forward. Every day during the month of September, he runs or walks a 5K in memory of a child in our community who didn’t make it or in honor of one who did.

During one of those 5Ks, he was joined by 11-year-old Delaney Doyle of Clifton Springs.

“I had a big tumor in my stomach but we didn’t know it was there and it just kept getting bigger,” Delaney says. 

It was years of treatment for Delaney too. Thankfully she’s now cancer-free, but she lost her spleen and part of her hearing during those treatments.

“I go for appointments every year and because I was in the hospital for so long, I actually have so many doctors now,” Delaney says. 

Still, Delaney consider herself lucky and was happy to walk that 5K with the undersheriff.

“I wanna maybe help raise money for kids and stuff,” Delaney says. “I mean, I’m good. I’m already cured and stuff, but maybe some other kids that are in hospitals and stuff aren’t yet and that really hurts my heart for some kids that don’t.. that are not in good shape.”

Delaney and the undersheriff are raising money for the C.U.R.E. Childhood Cancer Association. It’s a local nonprofit that has counselors at Golisano who help when parents get the initial cancer diagnosis. The organization also provides food and parking vouchers for families, assistance with really anything a family or child might need while fighting cancer.

“These kids are in the battle, it’s not easy, their lives are not the same as everyone else so if people could just keep them in their prayers and be thinking about them and C.U.R.E. does such a vital role in helping families. So, I try to raise money for CURE, it’s a very small, local nonprofit. All the money stays local and is used to support families right here in the Rochester area,” undersheriff Brown says.

For more information about C.U.R.E or to donate, click here.

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