Drink beer, cure brain cancer: Local breweries support research through #BrewStacheStrong

Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal
·9 min read
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Missing Mountain Brewing Co. owner/head brewer Keith McFarlane, left, and director of brewery operations Dave Bertolotti at the Cuyahoga Falls brewery. Missing Mountain is participating in the #BrewStacheStrong national campaign to raise money for brain cancer research.
Missing Mountain Brewing Co. owner/head brewer Keith McFarlane, left, and director of brewery operations Dave Bertolotti at the Cuyahoga Falls brewery. Missing Mountain is participating in the #BrewStacheStrong national campaign to raise money for brain cancer research.

Drinking a beer just might help cure brain cancer.

Local mom Bunny Oldham has been working hard on a national beer collaboration with the nonprofit StacheStrong, which has brought on board more than 250 breweries in 40 states to raise funds for brain cancer research through the release of limited-edition beers this month.

During National Brain Cancer Awareness Month in May, seven Akron-area breweries are participating in the #BrewStacheStrong campaign, with $1 from each pint or can sold donated to brain cancer research through New York-based StacheStrong.

Two more local breweries will start in the summer.

Each brewery has created a limited-edition StacheStrong beer, which they're selling this month and beyond until the special batches run out.

Brothers Colin and George "GJ" Gerner co-founded the nonprofit after GJ was diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in 2017. GJ underwent brain cancer treatment for 25 months before dying in 2019 at age 30.

For Bath resident Bunny Oldham, working to raise funds to support brain cancer research is very personal.

Her daughter Molly, 20, was diagnosed with Stage 3 anaplastic ependymoma, a brain cancer in the same family as GBM, at age 18 in 2019. Molly's diagnosis came the day she was supposed to leave to start her freshman year at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

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Molly's rare form of brain cancer required surgery and radiation at Akron Children's Hospital and University Hospital then and, after a recurrence in 2021, another surgery and radiation that January at Duke University Medical Center.

'It'll be OK, I know it will' Bath teen whose cancer is back to undergo surgery, treatment at Duke

Last May, Molly, a Revere High School graduate, appeared on "The View" by Zoom as a special guest to share her journey for Brain Cancer Awareness Month. Colin Gerner also talked about his foundation that week on the show, whose hosts introduced brain cancer research advocates Molly and Bunny Oldham and Gerner to each other.

National exposure: Molly Oldham continues cancer recovery, spreads awareness as guest on 'The View'

Molly wasn't 21 yet but Bunny knew she could help Gerner with his nonprofit's #BrewStacheStrong national fundraiser. It also was serendipitous that Bunny works in downtown Akron in a building that houses two breweries: Missing Falls and R. Shea.

To date, she has brought more than 30 breweries on board for the annual beer collaboration, from Ohio and beyond.

Bunny has a special connection to Ohio's brewing industry. Her former Miami University roommate and longtime friend Mary MacDonald is executive director of the Ohio Craft Brewers Association. MacDonald connected Bunny with the organization, which helped Bunny bring Ohio breweries on board for StacheStrong.

Bunny said just one brewery has turned her down to join #BrewStacheStrong after she's met with them and shared her daughter's fight against brain cancer. That was because the brewery's kettle was broken, but they pledged to participate next year.

"It's just a really interesting way to raise money," Bunny said. "These brewers want to help the community."

Peter and Sarah Kirk of Akron, avid microbrewery-goers who lost their son Taylor to GBM in October at age 26, also have helped to bring Ohio breweries on board.

For Bunny, it's all about building personal connections with others as she fights to fund more research for brain cancer.

"Cancer efforts are usually spearheaded by moms or wives of patients. To me, BrewStacheStrong is so exponentially beneficial for 'new' support because it includes the men, the dads, the brothers," she said. "When people ask, 'What can I do?' it’s simple: Raise a glass, drink a beer and you are also raising awareness and funding to cure brain cancer."

GBM, the most common and deadliest primary malignant brain tumor in adults, also affects 3% of pediatric brain tumor patients. The five-year survival rate for GBM patients is 5.6%.

StacheStrong is an all volunteer-run effort, with all proceeds going straight to brain cancer researchers. Those researchers rely on private funding to conduct innovative studies — funding that has been hard-hit during the pandemic.

After Bunny joined forces with Colin Gerner last year, they met on Zoom with two of Molly's Duke neuro-oncologists — Dr. Henry Friedman and Dr. Dave Ashley — to discuss a funding proposal to finish a promising study by Dr. Christopher Pirozzi of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke. StacheStrong, which has funded 17 clinical trials/research grants totaling more than $2 million, made a $150,000 grant for Duke's GBM study in late December.

Personal tribute for Missing Mountain

Keith McFarlane, head brewer and a co-owner of Missing Mountain Brewing Co. in Cuyahoga Falls, brewed 10 barrels of StacheStrong beer in memory of his father, Richard T. McFarlane, who died in January at age 71 from GBM eight months after he was diagnosed.

"We really need to be a part of this and make sure that we're doing everything we can," McFarlane said of StacheStrong, which Missing Mountain plans to support annually. "If we can help anybody from a brewery standpoint to find a cure for this or to make their hardship when they're going through this better, I want to do as much as I can for those families."

McFarlane said his father always taught him to pay it forward and help others.

"This seemed like a good and honorable thing to do for him," he said.

Jason Slater, a co-owner of Ignite Brewing Co. in Barberton, said his brewery is participating in the #StacheStrong campaign for the second year. He was drawn to support brain cancer research after losing his best friend from childhood to GBM six years ago, when he was 38.

"It was a way for me personally to be able to sort of remember my friend," said Slater, who was contacted by email last year by StacheStrong founder Colin Gerner.

Ignite marketing associate Jordan Warrick also lost her uncle to GBM, and a number of the brewery's team members have been touched by various kinds of cancer. As a result, Ignite is donating 11% of its StacheStrong beer sales, until the batch is gone.

Akronym Brewing, participating for the first time, also has staff members who have been touched by cancer. That includes Liz Greising, whose father, grandfather and grandmother have suffered from different types of cancer.

"Between family ties and understanding the struggle of multiple types of cancer, we feel that it's important that we continue raising funds for something that really requires additional research. There's no specific cure yet," Greising said.

Where to get #BrewStacheStrong beers in Greater Akron

Here are the Akron-area breweries pouring specialty brews now to support brain cancer research:

• Missing Mountain Brewing Co.: 2811 Front St., Cuyahoga Falls. StacheStrong beer is on tap now and expected to last into June. The Hazy DIPA, which the brewery specializes in and has 8.5% alcohol by volume, boasts stone fruit and berry notes as well as a citrus character. $1 per draft pour or $1 per crowler (32-ounce can) supports StacheStrong. See https://www.missingmountain.com.

Missing Mountain Brewing Co. director of brewery operations Dave Bertolotti, left, and owner/head brewer Keith McFarlane at the Cuyahoga Falls brewery.
Missing Mountain Brewing Co. director of brewery operations Dave Bertolotti, left, and owner/head brewer Keith McFarlane at the Cuyahoga Falls brewery.

• Missing Falls Brewery: 540 S Main St. Suite 112, Akron. StacheStrong American Pale Ale is brewed with all Ohio malt and hops. 5% ABV. See https://www.missingfalls.com.

• HiHO Brewing Co.: 1707 Front St, Cuyahoga Falls. The brewery's  #BrewStacheStrong dry hopped Pilsner is on tap now. The crisp, floral and complex pilsner has 5.2% ABV. See www.hihobrewingco.com/beer.

• Ignite Brewing Co: 600 W. Tuscarawas Ave., Barberton. StacheStrong beer is a Hazy Session IPA with 4% ABV. The brewery is donating 11% of StacheStrong beer sales to the nonprofit. See www.ignite.beer/this-spring-we-are-proud-to-brewstachestrong-to-fuel-brain-cancer-research.

• Akronym Brewing: 58 E. Market St., Akron. The Daily Grind coffee cream ale is on tap now, created with zoo blend coffee beans from Akron Coffee Roasters. 5.7% ABV. The brewery, which made 10 barrels of Daily Grind, also plans to sell the StacheStrong beer at its new location at 5121 Buehlers Drive in Montville Township, which will open in mid-June. See https://akronymbrewing.com.

• Blue Heron Brewery: 3227 Blue Heron Trace, Medina. The StacheStrong beer Some Beach, a tart ale, is brewed with pineapple, orange and banana and is on tap now. 6% ABV. Jenna Steyer, one of Molly Oldham's former teachers at Revere who recently lost her brother to GBM, enlisted the brewery's support. See https://blueheronmedina.com/brewpub.

• Wrecking Crew Brew Works: 144 N. Court St., Medina. The brewery, participating for its second year, has created a StacheSMASH single malt, single hop IPA that's citrus- and melon-forward. 6.5 ABV. See https://www.wreckingcrewbrewworks.com.

How Molly is doing

Molly Oldham, who has brain scans every three months, has suffered from seizures since her last surgery and experiences exhaustion. Even so, she just did a two-week theater intensive with her school in London, with her trip supported by the Cancer for College program. The intensive immersed the students in international theater.

On a day off, she met two European students who also have anaplastic ependymoma, which occurs in 300 kids a year. One was visiting from France and another lives in London.

Molly Oldham of Bath Township and young patient Essa of London, both of whom have anaplastic ependymoma, meet at a London hospital.
Molly Oldham of Bath Township and young patient Essa of London, both of whom have anaplastic ependymoma, meet at a London hospital.

Molly, who will turn 21 on July 19, will have two additional StacheStrong brew releases to look forward to this summer.

Royal Docks Brewing Co. will release its special beer later this summer at its Taproom + Kitchen at 7162 Fulton Drive NW, Jackson Township; and its Foeder House + Kitchen at 2668 Easton St. N.E., Plain Township. See https://www.docks.beer.

And for her birthday month of July, Akron brewery R. Shea will release Barista Secret Stache at its downtown and Merriman Valley locations, followed by a special event July 23 honoring her 21st birthday outside the downtown brewery at 540 S. Main St., Suite 214. The albino stout, a thinner beer for summer, is a nod to Molly's love of coffee. See https://www.rsheabrewing.com.

For more information about the #BrewStacheStrong campaign, see www.stachestrong.org.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron breweries join fight against brain cancer with #BrewStacheStrong