The 14th annual Houston Ride for Kids® posted some of its best-ever results on April 30, with more than 1,000 people turning in over $223,800 in donations for the medical research and family support programs of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF).
It was a gorgeous spring morning as the parade of motorcycles left Pasadena Fairgrounds for a tour of southwest Houston. There were so many bikes that the line passed itself twice, once on the soaring Fred Hartman bridge and again as they circled the San Jacinto monument.
At the endpoint, motorcyclists, fundraisers, patient families, and volunteers enjoyed the Celebration of Life program, where they heard directly from 10 local pediatric brain tumor survivors. The Houston "stars" included Jake, 5; Jacob, 7; Garrett, 8; Jordan, 9; Michael, 10; Pierce, 12; Nick, 18; and PBTF scholarship recipients Darla, 18, and Yi, 20. "My dream is simply to live and get on with my life, and you made that possible," Darla said.
The stars were joined on stage by one of their inspirations, a young woman named Amy who was diagnosed with a brain tumor at 13. Now a 30-year-old pediatric nurse at Texas Children's Hospital, she told the crowd of 1,050, "[The kids] remember the pain, the nausea, and the surgery, but they also remember the joy of today."
The medical community was represented by Dr. Jack Su of Texas Children's and Dr. Joanne Ater of M.D. Anderson. When Ater was introduced, a mother shouted, "She saved my son's life!" The gratitude works both ways, said Su. "You supplied me with a grant which allows us to do our work to help save these kids' lives."
The total raised at the Houston event was $223,806. Top individual fundraiser honors went to Judy and Steve Ferguson of Crosby, Texas, who brought $14,255. The top club, Northwest Honda Red Riders, contributed $34,820, and the customers of Northwest Honda made it the top motorcycle business with $72,904 in donations. The grand prize, a brand-new Honda motorcycle, went to Shirley Harris of Lumberton, Texas.
Special thanks went to Houston's task force leader Ronnie Lunsford and visitation leaders Judy and Steve Ferguson, along with their dedicated volunteer task force and day-of-event volunteers, for putting together another incredible event.
