Windermere mayor joins undies run for charity

Among hundreds of colorfully and skimpily clad characters was Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn for the 2 p.m. start of the Feb. 7 Cupid's Undie Run in downtown Orlando.

The run occurs each February in 35 American cities and three Australian locations to support the Children's Tumor Foundation, the world’s largest non-government organization dedicated to ending a genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis through research. Neurofibromatosis  results in tumors all over the nervous system, possibly leading to severe chronic pain, learning disabilities, deafness and blindness.

The 2015 Orlando run has raised more than $90,000, exceeding the goal of $52,000. As of race day, Bruhn had raised $255 of the $300 goal he had set, according to the event site.

Bruhn was part of the 27-person Lilly Ann's Lab Nerds team, which exceeded its $10,000 goal by more than $2,600. The team's name honors the daughter of Belle Isle Mayor Bill Brooks -- Lilly Ann Brooks, 13 -- who has neurofibromatosis.

"After an 18-month long process, Lilly Ann and her family finally received a diagnosis," Bruhn wrote for his donation page. "At first they were relieved by an answer, until they heard the words 'no known treatment or cure.' Now nearly 14, Lilly Ann has what the doctors call a 'constellation of issues,' including multiple 'plexiform neurofibroma' tumors in her neck and in the brachial plexus from her chest to her arms. She has neurofibromas in cranial nerves near the brain and spinal tumors causing severe dystrophic scoliosis, bending her spine past 90 degrees."

For more information on this disease and the run, visit http://www.cupidsundierun.com/city/orlando/.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].