Family and friends of Dawson County 17-year-old Mason Palmour are giving area locals another chance to show their support for the teen as he battles a rare type of brain cancer called Glioblastoma.  

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This year’s #MasonStrong 5K will be a color run, according to an announcement from the event’s Facebook page. 

The run will be held Saturday, May 13 starting at 9 a.m. at Rock Creek Park. The park is located at 445 Martin Rd. off of Ga. 9 South. 

During a color run, vibrantly-colored powders are thrown onto participants throughout the run. 

There will be music, food, door prizes at the event, as well as medals for finishers after the run. 

Registration costs $25. People can register at the signup webpage, available via a QR code on event flyers or at https://runsignup.com/race/ga/dawsonville/masonstrong5k.

Mason Palmour was diagnosed with stage four Glioblastoma in November 2021.

Since that time, Mason and his family have watched the teen persevere, celebrating when he finally secured access to at-home cancer treatments last year from the Houston-based Burzynski Clinic, a facility that’s had success with curing Glioblastoma in other patients. 

Several weeks ago, Mason started experiencing a severe headache, vomiting, facial numbness, and trouble with speech, leading to his being admitted to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hospital (CHOA), a February Facebook post stated. 

“Tumor growth was confirmed following an MRI scan, but the tumor is definitely smaller than the tumor he had removed last year, which is a blessing,” said the teen’s father, Robert Palmour. 

Robert said Mason is in very good spirits “despite everything” and added his son is in the process of transitioning to new medications from the Burzynski Clinic.

Since the hospital stay, Mason has returned to doing homebound education for the time being to help him rest and recover. 

“It’s affecting his speech, but he’s fighting through it,” Robert said. “Hopefully, he’ll start these new meds and start reversing the tumor’s effects, so we just pray for that and pray for him to continue [improving].”

Multiple in-person and online fundraisers have been hosted to help Mason and family, from last year’s 5K to a “punt, pass and kick” event and several other gatherings. To date, people have donated over $55,000 to the teen’s GoFundMe campaign and more than $12,000 to his Angels Touch Charity fundraiser. 

People’s generosity hasn’t stopped there. This past fall, Mason and his family were able to attend a University of Georgia football game, go on the field and meet some of the players. The teen has also taken part in fishing tournaments, hunted a trophy buck and been blessed by the Make-A-Wish Georgia twice. 

In September, a Dawson County High School alumnus who’d battled cancer, Max Grant, gave his wish to Mason and helped surprise the younger teen with a custom 1992 Chevy C1500 pickup truck. 

Then just last month, Mason finally saw his specific request from Make-A-Wish fulfilled–a boat for him to continue his joy of fishing. 

As if that wasn’t enough to look forward to, a new member has joined Mason’s family—a mixed-breed service dog named Blue. 

The main goal for Mason’s fundraisers now is to raise money for another 10-plus months of at-home treatments and other medications he wasn’t able to get the first time around, Robert said.

While Mason’s family have been grateful for the hundreds of thousands raised so far to support the teen throughout his cancer journey, they are still in search of more funding due to the substantial costs of medications and taking the time to care for the teen, Robert added. 

As they look forward to the 5K in May, the Palmour family is also preparing for a North Carolina-based fundraiser for Mason, as well as later events in June and July. 

“Thank God that we have the people that we have in the community…helping spread the word and help out,” Robert said. “I count my blessings every day because of people like you and people in the community that have helped us get this far.”