Troy's Trail now in eighth year promoting hydrocephalus and spina bifida awareness (15 photos)

The 8th annual Troy’s Trail fundraising walk for hydrocephalus and spina bifida took place Saturday, bringing out dozens of people and families out to Clergue Park to raise funds for Hydrocephalus Canada.

“They’re two conditions where there is no cure,” said Troy Chandler, who began the Troy’s Trail event with his wife, Annette Chandler, in 2012. “There’s no cure for either. Hydrocephalus and spina bifida, they go hand in hand, and most people with spina bifida have hydrocephalus.”

Chandler, who was first diagnosed with hydrocephalus in 1994, says that his condition - which impacts approximately 120,000 people across the country, according to Hydrocephalus Canada - is on the rise.

“It’s affecting everybody from newborns right up older adults,” he told SooToday prior to the walk. “So my advice is to anybody out there, you have to be your own best advocate.”

“We live once, we want to enjoy life. If you’re feeling something, go and get it checked out.”

The annual walk began in very modest fashion, bringing out roughly a dozen people in 2012. Nowadays, the annual Troy’s Trail walks usually average around 100 participants each year.

The event, Chandler says, has also fostered a sense of community, bringing together an estimated 30 Saultites who live with hydrocephalus and spina bifida.

“It’s growing, we see it working,” said Chandler. “People are calling one another and helping one another, and it’s a really good feeling.”

Over the past seven years, Troy’s Trail has brought in $15,000 for Hydrocephalus Canada.