Zach Brown’s Virtual 5K Offers Worldwide Support

Life for the Brown family in Edgewater may seem pretty routine from the outside looking in.

But if you take a closer look, you can see a family living with questions and uncertainty. 

In October 2011, when he was just 10 years old, Zach Brown was diagnosed with Cavernous Angioma—a disorder of the brain and spinal cord that causes abnormal blood vessels to bleed. 

Zach, now 12, has suffered two brain bleeds. While he has made a remarkable recovery since the first bleed—he’s left with paralysis on right side of is face— the fear of a “re-bleed” weighs heavy on Zach and his family’s minds.

“He’s my only son. He acts happy-go-lucky all the time but he is worried about it too,” said Zach’s mom Tracy Brown. “He worries about getting married and having kids and getting to grow up. All those things are very real for him at 12, and as a parent that’s hard to know."

In an effort to help Zach and the families of the other 1.5 million Americans affected by Cavernous Angioma, Zach and his mom are orchestrating a national 5K walk or run to raise funds for the Angioma Alliance.

The Zach Brown Virtual 5K will be held October 6 at Camp Letts in Edgewater, and anywhere else around the world where people want to participate and show their support.

Brown said when they pitched the idea to the Angioma Alliance it decided to make the 5K a national event. For Brown, who is in an online support group for Cavernous Angioma with people from as far as Scotland and Italy, a virtual walk was the perfect idea.

“Our hope is that they will order the T-shirts and post pictures online and they will all wear them to show we are all the same no matter where we are,” Brown said. “I want them to feel a part of something bigger.”

Funds raised during the 5K will go to the Angioma Alliance for research.

Brown said some Angiomas are operable, but since Zach’s is on his brain stem, surgery would be too dangerous, which leaves them with a constant worry that a “re-bleed” will occur.

Zach said he simply wants to raise enough money so they can “fix” what’s wrong in his brain.

Brown just wants to give her son a future and her family some relief.

“There’s the fear of it happening again. It makes us more guarded with everything,” Brown said. “As his mom, I have to give him options.”

The Zach Brown Virtual 5K will be held at 10 a.m. on October 6. For more information or to register, click here.