Home - Taite Boomer Memorial Brain Tumor Foundation

Discover why we do what we do

On September 2, 2012, Taite Boomer passed away after a short, but courageous battle with a brain tumor. He was only 20 years old. An amazing young man with the wisest of souls, Taite left behind a legend most people will never achieve in their lifetime. His unwavering strength, both physical and mental, allowed him to fight a very aggressive and rare brain tumor for as long as he did.

Taite’s story was not a textbook case. For Taite to have an anaplastic astrocytoma at such a young age was strange. Although the tumor appeared to be of a less aggressive grade on the initial MRI, it behaved more like an extremely aggressive tumor. Due to the limited amount of research on the brain and brain tumors, doctors were unable to anticipate the rapid progress of Taite’s tumor.

We need YOUR help to fight brain cancer. In order to promote and fund further research on brain tumors, in turn helping us to find better treatments, we need to bring more awareness to brain cancer and its many forms. Help us share Taite’s story.

Read Taite's story

Your support is moving brain tumor research forward!

The work of Alexander Rodzinka, who was granted a 2017-2018 Brain Tumour of Canada Research Studentship that was supported by our foundation, has made a large impact.

Alex was working on a project that aimed to determine what brain tumor-initiating cells (BTICs) are driving tumor cell growth in Glioblastoma Multiforme. He discovered that increased levels of SPY1, a unique cell cycle regulator, resulted in increased proliferation, aggressiveness and therapy resistance. Alex established a BTIC bank to be used to help move this research forward.

Dr. Lisa Porter’s lab at the University of Windsor, where Alex conducted his studentship, was recently awarded over $1 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to fund her project on ‘Targeting Cell Cycle Checkpoints in Glioma’. This project will determine how the Spy1 protein is involved in driving BTICs to divide and will test the potential of targeting Spy1 for treatment of this aggressive form of cancer.

We’d like to give a big thank you to all of you who’ve made it possible for us to help fund these important research studentships. Read more about the Research Studentships we’ve funded.

Check out the recent Research Studentships we funded

The Research Studentship program, offered by the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, was developed to accelerate brain tumor research and encourage new, young researchers to join the field. The studentship program offers funding for two summers of work to first-year medical students and first, second or third-year undergraduate science students. We’ve funded 19 studentships since we started – learn more about them!

Learn about the studentships

Who are we?

The Taite Boomer Foundation is a local non-profit foundation that aims to raise funds for, and awareness of, brain tumors. Please learn more about us and about Taite Boomer.

What do we do?

We believe that in order to promote and fund further research on brain tumors, we need to bring more awareness to brain cancer and its many forms. Learn about our fundraisers and the research programs that they fund.

How can you help?

There are lots of ways you can help us fight brain cancer. Become an advocate, become a volunteer, become a sponsor or donate. Learn more about how you can get involved today.