Brian's SABRE-toothed Tigers
We are back for 2024!!!
Last year was a beautiful event, and our team raised over $7000! Huge thank you to everyone who contributed and participated. If you’d like to support NBTS once again, we’d welcome you!
Once again, We are honoring Brian by supporting the effort to develop effective treatments for Glioblastoma (GBM). Please join me so that in the future, others will have options that he did not.
My husband, Brian George Palestis, was diagnosed with GBM in late 2018. He underwent two brain surgeries, many weeks of chemotherapy and radiation, as well as other treatments. He passed away in January 2020, at the age of 46. He left me behind, as well as his two children, his mom, his dad and stepmother, his brother and his family, and many others who loved him. We miss him every day.
Why "SABRE"?
Brian was a sabre fencer. He started out in high school, going on to Princeton where he was squad leader, earned All-American honors, and two Ivy League titles. He started coaching younger fencers early on, primarily through the club that taught him, Master's Fencing Academy. Over the past two decades, he refereed countless high school meets and tournaments, and served as Assistant Coach for the newly-established fencing team at Wagner College. Many of Brian's oldest friends were people he met through fencing.
Why "Tigers"?
After growing up in Pompton Lakes, NJ, Brian graduated from Princeton with high honors in 1995, and will forever be a Princeton Tiger! He went on to earn his PhD in Ecology at Rutgers, taught at Monmouth and Barnard, and ultimately joined the Biological Sciences faculty at Wagner College (Staten Island), where he was a Professor for the better part of two decades. Starting with his PhD research, he studied common terns in Barnegat Bay. He loved the Jersey shore, having spent many family vacations there as a child and later with his own children. It's fitting to be a part of this event in a place that meant so much to him.
We are walking to honor Brian's life and remember him, and to support the research that will someday lead to a cure. Thank you to all who are joining us, however you choose to do so.
-Meghan
National Brain Tumor Society is fiercely committed to finding a cure for brain tumors. They are aggressively driving strategic research and advocating for public policies that meet the critical needs of the brain tumor community. Your support ensures this important work will continue.
