Motorcyclists at the second annual San Francisco Bay Area Ride for Kids® raised more than $47,000 for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation's medical research and family support programs.
Blue skies and a light breeze greeted the crowd of 300 at Pleasanton Middle School. The riders' police-escorted tour took them over winding mountain roads into Niles Canyon with vistas of mountains and horse farms.
The ride looped back to the middle school for the stirring Celebration of Life program. The stars of the day were three local brain tumor patients--9-year-olds Brennan and Malcolm, along with long-term survivor Chelsea, 24.
Malcolm's dad, Duncan, spoke for all the patient families when he said, "We aren't heroes. We do what we have to do because we are directly affected by this devastating disease. The people that are heroes are the ones that have a choice, and then choose to make the sacrifice to be here today to support the search for the cause and cure."
The crowd also heard from two researchers who benefit from PBTF funding--Dr. Nalin Gupta and Dr. David James of the University of California San Francisco. "We expect a lot of progress in the next few years," said Dr. Gupta.
The event raised a total of $47,492. The top individual fundraiser was Amy Snyder of San Jose, Calif., who brought $7,551. Women’s sport-bike riding club Curve Unit raised $8,565 to make it the top club, and Harley-Davidson of Ukiah took top motorcycle business honors with $6,330 in customer donations. John Fredriksson of Walnut Creek, Calif., won the grand-prize Honda motorcycle.
Special thanks went to the dedicated San Francisco event volunteers and task force, led by Kathy and Jon Carlson and Kathy and Ricky Freeman and visitation leader John Fredriksson, for hosting a terrific day for the kids.
