More than 1000 Canberrans – from families to the towering team of Brumbies players and supporters – turned out for a special Light the Night fundraiser at Eastlake Parade on Friday night.
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Among the many families were the McLeans, who brought their puppy, Mojo, along for the walk.
Michelle Vaessen-McLean said she and husband Andrew thought it would be a special event for their children, eight-year-old Arabella and six-year-old Callum, to be part of.
Ms Vaessen-McLean said it was a especially pertinent, given the children had recently helped raise funds for another young student at their school, St Anthony's Primary, to get treatment.
"We also thought it would be good, given two of my aunties had breast cancer and Andrew has bowel cancer in his family, so it's an important issue," she said.
"We wanted the children to see how the community comes together for these things, outside the fundraising at school."
Community spirit was a key part of the event, Leukaemia Foundation ACT-NSW general manager Chris McMillan said.
Among the crowd, and with glowing blue lanterns in hand, the Brumbies team and its many supporters turned out to show they were behind their captain, Christian Lealiifano, who was recently diagnosed with leukaemia.
Ms McMillan said while the event was for all those touched by the cancer, the Brumbies contingent helped bring up the crowd numbers to well over 1000 people.
"It was stunning," Ms McMillan said.
"Light the Night is always a very emotional and moving event. It is there as a real support for those who are on their journey, those celebrating life lost to cancer, and people supporting those going through blood cancer treatment.
"People going through their cancer journey really need that support of family and friends around them."
Ms McMillan said the foundation was hoping to raise $2 million nationally to go towards supporting patients and their families and funding research, a target they were getting close to with the tally at $1.56 million.
In Canberra, the target of $60,000 was just $375 short at the start of the walk on Friday night.
"I am absolutely positive it will have tipped over the target," Ms McMillan said on Saturday.
In a separate initiative, the Leukaemia Foundation this year also launched a new gold rose, called Always Remember, bred specifically for families of those lost to the cancer to plant in remembrance.
