Tamworth podiatrist puts best foot forward for Can Assist charity

Local podiatrist Brooke Dalzell and her team of sole sisters are raising money for Can Assist Tamworth, a support network that helps local cancer patients cover their expenses from travel, accommodation and medical costs.

Dr Dalzell's team of three podiatrists and two receptionists has been hard at work raising funds for the charity while training for the City2Surf run in Sydney next month.

"As a podiatry clinic we see a lot of patients, and my big aim was to give back to the patients who give to us," Dr Dalzell said.

She said the practice chose to support Can Assist specifically because of its track record for making sure all money that's raised local, stays local.

Since a few members of the team at Brooke Dalzell Podiatry are active runners, it seemed natural to invite them all down to Sydney for the run, podiatrist Tegan Nicholls said.

Her colleagues were quick to hop on board, but the team operating out of Peel Health Care in North Tamworth thought it would be important to give their run a purpose.

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They set about talking to patients, relatives, and members of the community, to find the perfect cause to support, and Dr Dalzell said Can Assist "just kept coming up".

With their purpose found, the foot doctors dived into fundraising feet-first.

"We're all wearing the gear [Dr Dalzell] designed for us and she's flying us all down to Sydney in August to do the run," team member Linda Sinclair said.

Dr Dalzell said she felt "so blessed" to have her team accompany her for the City2Surf.

"This is all about them, not me," she said.

The team is taking big steps to make a difference, raising a 'toe-tal' of more than $3000 with no signs of slowing their pace.

"We put in a stab-in-the-dark figure of $3000 and we've already hit that so we want to raise more than that for Can Assist," Dr Dalzell said.

Given the team's unexpected success and outpouring of community support, they're looking to make an even bigger difference next year by challenging other local businesses to a fundraising competition.

For now though, the team has a run to prepare for, and those looking to support them can do so by donating to their page on the City2Surf website.

Dr Dalzell said donations could be as small as one dollar, as every step counts in the battle against cancer.

"And think of us on August 13 as we go up Heartbreak Hill," Dr Dalzell said with a chuckle.

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