Michael Diggins, Rhys Diggins, Lisa Harris, Kylee Huard and Jason Ferrario decked out in all the MHF merchandise.
Junee’s Jason Ferrario will leave the Sydney Cricket Ground early Wednesday morning, June 25th and arrive at the Newcastle Knights v Canberra Raiders game Friday night at McDonald Jones Stadium on the 27th of June to raise money. The walk will be for the Mark Hughes Foundation (MHF), whose mission is to raise much-needed funds for research, to create awareness and support brain cancer patients and their families.
One person every 5 hours is diagnosed with brain cancer and it kills more children than any other disease. Brain Cancer does not discriminate. Brain Cancer can be a lonely journey for patients and their families. To date, MHF has funded four Brain Cancer Coordinators. These nurses are with patients every step of the way, delivering personalised nursing care tailored for each patient and their families.
Matt Callander who lost his battle with brain cancer in 2017, along with close friend Glenn Pallister, were the inspiration and reason that the NRL – National Rugby League Beanie Round began and is now one of the biggest charity rounds the NRL has seen.
Matt and his family took this on whilst Matt was in the middle of his huge fight against brain cancer. This culminated in the Big Three150km Trek Mr Ferrario is participating in. What started as three mates going for a walk has led to the fifth Big Three Trek and raising almost $800,000 for MHF.
The trek goal in 2024 was $200k and reached $257k, whilst in 2025 it is again $200k. Jason said, “Our family and we, Jason and Kylee, were heartbroken in 2009 when our big brother, Rick, lost his courageous battle with brain cancer, having fought it off 10years prior. We are always motivated by the courage he showed throughout his battle. He is greatly missed by family and friends every day.”
Jason completed the 150km trek in 2024 and considers it the most rewarding thing he has ever done in his life. Kylee and her daughters, Maddison and Dakota, surprised Jason in 2024, travelling from Junee to walk the last 5km of the trek with him, decked out in their MHF Beanies for Brain Cancer beanies, with Rick’s initials, just like the one they had presented Jason with before he set off for the trek.
Kylee was so inspired by the vision, the camaraderie of the group and the atmosphere when the trekkers walked into McDonald Jones Stadium, that she will be stepping out of her comfort zone and also making the trek in 2025.
“We are both big supporters of the Mark Hughes Foundation and can’t wait to join the Big Three Trek 5.0, walking 150km from Sydney to Newcastle to raise $$$ for awareness, research and resourcing as the search for a cure for brain cancer continues.
“Donations made through this platform are secure and will be remitted directly to MHF. Thankyou for supporting us, your donation is greatly appreciated. You always wish that he [Rick] was still with us and this is my way of honouring him, and my way of helping raise money for brain cancer, research, support, and awareness, and through the Mark Hughes Foundation….It’s something that I wanted to be involved in pretty much as soon as I’d finished the 150Ks last year.”
We will walk in these shorts with Rick’s picture on it. I know that he was with me all the way last year, and this year he’ll be with both of us again…..There are five of us from Junee. We join a team of approximately 60 walkers and 20 support crew.
“The other thing that I’m so forever grateful about is last year I was able to raise $28,000 alone through donations. This year, we’re doing it two different ways, so one way is through a raffle. We’ve got some wonderful sponsors that have come on board and donated prizes.
“The Australian Turf Club, New South Wales Rugby League, Queensland Rugby League; the Murrumbidgee Turf Club, my employers, have been generous enough to donate some tickets to next year’s Gold Cup Carnival, and businesses in Junee have also got tickets to a South Sydney game, tickets to a Parramatta game, GWS games, TAB came on board and helped. So many people have reached out and offered us these prizes and we now have a raffle. You can scan the QR code or click on the link on the website and purchase the raffle tickets.
“Kylie and I have our donation page, as do all of the other walkers. So, apart from scanning the QR code and buying raffle tickets or going to our link, you can also go to the Mark Hughes Foundation and support a fundraiser. There might be someone out there who knows other people who are participating. All the money goes to the same cause, but there are so many different links that you can click on to donate money, and of course, going to the Murrumbidgee Turf Club website and going to our event calendar is another way where the Murrumbidgee Turf Club has supported me in helping raise as many funds as we can.
“Mark Hughes is a wonderful human. He is a brain cancer sufferer. He’s a truly inspirational man, and it’ll be great to walk alongside Hughesy on Wednesday evenings for 5ks, he comes with us each year. The Rugby League Players Association get right behind the cause, and then there are 10 to 12 ex-NRL players that come along as well.
“You wouldn’t think it’s a lot of fun walking 150, but it truly is.You become part of a family and on June 25, I can’t wait to make the trek again.
“Last year it was Friday to Sunday, and on that Sunday, we had to be at the ground by 2:30pm. This year, we won’t need to be there until about 6 o’clock, and that in itself, the relief and the inspiration and the reward when you do finish the walk is one thing, but then to walk in front of 20,000 fans there at McDonald Jones Stadium, and they’re all standing on their feet and cheering for us, it’s a pretty emotional thing.
“I can’t wait to do it. I try to honour my brother in every way I can. I’ll never forget him and this year to have my sister walking alongside me….it’s something to look forward to.”
-Jack Murray
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