COCHRANE— The Beer Den is partnering with local breweries for their Charity Tap program to give back to different organizations every second month, selecting the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada in June.
For every litre of Banded Peak Brewery beer sold that month, The Beer Den donated $1, while Banded Peak donated $5, raising $900 total. Nikstar Promotions also gave 100 Beer Den bucks for the first 100 customers to buy from the charity tap.
Nicole Murphy, owner of The Beer Den, said the initiative started in December 2020 as a way to give back to the community after the store’s opening in 2019.
“We moved to Cochrane over a year ago now, and we love this community so much, and thought it would be a great idea to support some of the local organizations here,” Murphy said. “We had a lot of customers that were excited about certain organizations they’re affiliated with, or that they support. So, we’ve been kind of using that as the starting point.”
After some customers reached out back in June to invite the store’s support for the annual Brain Tumour Walk on June 27, a cause close to them, The Beer Den partnered up with Banded Peak Brewing to back them.
“Biggar Brains” is a team spread out across Alberta and Saskatchewan that walks to support two brain tumour survivors from small-town Biggar, Sask. One of the two survivors, Chris Beckett, now calls Cochrane home along with his wife, Kristina Barclay.
Beckett was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2009 while in university, and underwent a successful operation to remove it not long after the diagnosis.
“I starting having constant headaches, blurry vision, and then it got to the point where I was losing balance a lot of the time,” he said.
After an initial visit to an Edmonton hospital left him without answers, Beckett’s parents helped arrange a trip to see their family doctor in Saskatoon, where they were able to identify the tumour within 24 hours from a CT scan. He went into surgery within about the same amount of time.
Barclay’s sister was also diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2016 but she said it is something that she will battle with the rest of her life.
“Most people that are affected by brain tumours have cancerous brain tumours,” she said. “Both of our survivors actually have benign tumours, but benign doesn’t necessarily mean better.
“The great thing about the foundation is that they support any kind of brain tumour, to ensure they have resources available.”
Barclay advises to look out for some of the main symptoms of a possible brain tumour— Headaches, loss of vision and loss of balance— Especially if you have been laying down for a while.
With over 150 different brain tumours documented, Barclay also said that symptoms can really depend on the type of tumour.
For more information about the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada and access to resources for patients, families and caregivers visit braintumour.ca.
For the month of August The Beer Den is partnering with Zero Issue Brewing in Calgary to benefit Cochrane Search and Rescue.
