Meet Gabrielle Palmer, R4R's Top Fundraiser. She's 12.
Gabrielle Palmer started a Race 4 Research fundraiser as her passion project for her bat mitzvah. She's raised more than $11,000 so far.
Gabrielle Palmer, left, with her cousin, Jenny Simon
Even though she’s only a few days shy of 13 years old, Race 4 Research participant Gabrielle Palmer has a long history of helping people with cancer.
When she was four, she cut off and donated a foot of her hair to a cancer patient support organization after her school’s principal lost her own hair while going through cancer treatment. Gabrielle’s done it two more times since then.
So when her 29-year-old cousin, Jenny Simon, was diagnosed with brain cancer last October, Gabrielle knew she needed to give more than her hair. This time, cancer was hitting far too close to home. She resolved to raise money to advance cancer research and made it her passion project for her bat mitzvah celebration. She signed up for Cancer League of Colorado Race 4 Research 5K, which will be held this Sunday in Washington Park, Denver, and started a fundraising team.
“I was on a different path until we learned Jenny had cancer,” Gabrielle said. “Then I changed my project.”
Discovering Cancer League of Colorado
Gabrielle, who will be an 8th grade student at McAuliffe International School in Denver this fall, began the project by Googling nonprofit organizations in Colorado that focused on cancer research. Cancer League of Colorado rose to the top. When she also saw that Cancer League’s Race for Research 5K event was scheduled for the week before her bat mitzvah, she decided she would sign up to run the race and create a fundraiser in honor of Jenny. She named it MIND OVER MATTER, an homage to her cousin’s battle with anaplastic astrocytoma brain cancer.
To date, Gabrielle has raised $11,104 dollars and is the top team and individual fundraiser for the Race for Research. Not only has she raised more money than any other participant team, she’s raised more than the top corporate sponsor.
Gabrielle’s cousin Jenny currently lives in New Zealand, where she had surgery and recently completed her treatment. She’s doing well but Gabrielle hasn’t been able to see Jenny since her diagnosis because of Covid restrictions. “I knew it would be hard to help Jenny directly,” Gabrielle said. “She was so far away. But I realized I could do something locally.”
Gabrielle did her homework before choosing Cancer League and the Race for Research. She liked that Cancer League is an all-volunteer-operated organization with no paid staff or offices. She wanted all of the money she raised to go toward the mission of cancer research.
“I’ve learned how serious the different stages of cancer are and how badly the treatment can affect you,” she said.
A Connection to Michele Plachy-Rubin
Gabrielle also liked the Race 4 Research for one very special reason: “I saw the Race was founded by someone who also had brain cancer.”
Gabrielle read about Michele Plachy-Rubin, in whose memory the Race 4 Research is run every year. Michele was a young wife, mother, and kindergarten teacher in Denver when she was diagnosed with brain cancer. Michele’s friends and family started the Race for Research in her honor in 1997, determined to raise money for cancer research. Michele was able to walk the race that year with her young son but lost her fight with cancer the following year. Her legacy, however, lives on. This year is the 25th Annual Race for Research.
Once she signed up, Gabrielle got busy sending her MIND OVER MATTER team page link to everyone she knew. Her school principal blasted it out to everyone in the school. She put it on her bat mitzvah invitation. The money started pouring in. She even attracted an anonymous donor who agreed to match every $2500 she raised.
“I haven’t really had a tough time getting people to give,” she said.
Service is a Passion
The support has not surprised her parents, Toni and Randy Palmer, who say that helping others in need is practically embedded in Gabrielle’s DNA.
“It’s been her mission for years,” Toni said. Gabrielle has helped with many other fundraisers at her service-driven school and has volunteered with A Precious Child, a Broomfield nonprofit dedicated to assisting children and families facing difficult life challenges, such as abuse, neglect, crisis situations and poverty.
Gabrielle plays competitive volleyball, skis in the winter and attends camp every summer. Volleyball is one of the things that Gabrielle shares in common with Jenny, who played collegiate volleyball.
Jenny has an environmental sciences degree, is a Master Scuba Diver Trainer, and has traveled all over the world. She has been “such a light” for Gabrielle, Toni said. The two have always been close. Jenny gave Gabrielle a jade necklace as a gift several years ago, and Gabrielle wore it for three years straight as her good luck charm.
Gabrielle would also like to travel the world and hopes to become a pediatrician when she grows up. For her bat mitzvah, she and her guests will be doing fun activities, such as swimming, running a ropes course and tie-dying shirts.
And, if Gabrielle has her way, giving more money to help fight cancer.
Congratulations, Gabrielle!
Be sure to give a high five to Gabrielle and wish her a happy birthday when you see her and her MIND OVER MATTER team out on the race course at the Race 4 Research in Washington Park Sunday morning.