Events

Many people have an image in their mind when they think of motorcycle clubs – and it isn’t always positive. One group of motorcycle enthusiasts aims to change that perception.

“Our club operates similar to the clubs founded in the forties,” David Little explained. “Traditionally, a club founded from a group of like-minded people who want a brotherhood and ride motorcycles”.

In an effort to differentiate themselves, several club members started a new nationwide club called, Defiant Crew Motorcycle Club. While they kept the goal of brotherhood and riding, they also wanted to add a community service aspect to the club.

“We want to show that we are committed to our communities,” David said. “Everyone has been affected by cancer. In fact, I have recently lost two of my dearest friends to the disease and I can’t imagine what kids fighting cancer have to go through.”

To fight back, the Georgia chapter of Defiant Crew MC created an event called Bikers Battling for Kids. On April 27, 70-100 bikers will gather at the Knucklehead Café in Rockmart for a poker run. From there they will ride to a park in Cave Springs, then to Sixes Tavern in Cartersville, and finally to Bikers Gone Wild in Dallas before returning to Rockmart. The loop is approximately eighty miles and at each stop they will draw a card. When everyone finishes they will each have a hand to play and the winner will receive a prize.

In the five years they’ve been making this run, they have raised over $25,000 for CURE. The event is quite organic – they literally knock on doors to get items for auction and spread the word of the poker run through word of mouth and signs placed at locations bikers frequent.

“It’s fulfilling,” said David. “To know that we can get together, ride, and do what we love while making a difference in our community is huge.”

 

Many people go their entire lives without discovering the things of greatest value. Others have experiences which teach them what is important, and some seem to be born with keen intuition. Christopher Wessels finds great value in the “diamonds” he collects. But the most important thing to him isn’t hoarding his gems, he prefers putting them to work for others.

When Christopher was three years old, a distended stomach sent his family to the emergency room, where doctors diagnosed him with a stage IV Wilm’s tumor. He spent the next seven months in a fight that included chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. He became a frequent flyer with trips between the Atlanta and New York hospitals where he received treatment in which he lost a kidney, an adrenal gland, and several lymph nodes. But on March 15, 2015, Christopher was declared “No Evidence of Disease.”

He has spent some additional time in the hospital due to asthma but is doing great today. He is a part of the survivorship program which entails an annual scan to make sure he remains cancer-free. This freedom from treatment has given him more time to pursue his precious diamond collection. Christopher sometimes gets caught smuggling them into the house, and many of the precious stones that make it home go through a special cleansing process along with the rest of his laundry. A six-year-old often forgets to empty his pockets.

Christopher mines these treasures all over the place: friends’ yards, city parks, and family vacation destinations. Rarely a day goes by when he doesn’t spy at least one diamond on the playground at his school. Once he gets his diamonds home, they join a display he has created in his playroom.

These diamonds are extremely valuable to this avid collector. Far more valuable than that, however, are the lives of the young children who, like Christopher, are at risk due to childhood cancer. When he learned he could help other children facing cancer by selling his coveted diamonds, Christopher willingly agreed.

Christopher’s family created a team at CURE Childhood Cancer’s annual Lauren’s Run. Team Courageous Christopher sent letters and emails offering his diamonds in exchange for a donation. Each diamond came with an original certificate of authenticity. His supporters immediately recognized Christopher’s passion and the value of such a prized collection. Orders and donations began pouring in.

The Wessels took time off for a family spring break trip where Christopher admitted to feeling some pressure. At a souvenir shop he showed his mother a bag of diamonds he needed to buy out of concern for the high demand that was outpacing his stock levels.

In the end, Christopher fulfilled all of the orders, and his team finished as one of the top fundraising teams at Lauren’s Run with an amazing total of over $11,000! Christopher is already prospecting for new “diamonds” to replenish current inventory levels for his collection.

Whether it was through his experience with cancer or just in his nature, this six-year-old has a keen eye for what is truly valuable in life and is an example for all.

 

When April rolls around, the Fenchak family will be preparing for another big day at Lauren’s Run & the CURE Annual Picnic. It’s gotten to be old hat for them since this will be the eighth time they’ve participated. The first time they entered, their son, Jackson, was only two years old – and he was fortunate to be there at all.

When he was nine months old, Jackson began to develop bruising around his eyes. His parents also noticed that he perspired more than normal. Exams by doctors revealed nothing until he was about to be sedated for an MRI. A routine check found his blood pressure to be 160/110 – almost triple the norm for a child under a year old. This concerned his medical team and rightly so. The MRI and ultrasound revealed a tumor the size of a soda can in Jackson’s abdomen.

The tumor ended up to be neuroblastoma. Making the diagnosis even worse, the tumor had metastasized to his eyes and that was the source of the bruising. Doctors told his parents that surgery was not an option because the tumor was wrapped around his aorta. But after chemotherapy proved unsuccessful, surgery became his only option.

“His surgery started at 5 am,” recalled his father, Chris. “They were still working on him when the staff started leaving for the day. The cleaning crew was mopping up and we were still in the surgery waiting room.”

Finally, after fourteen long hours, the surgeon came out and said they got 97% of the tumor. She considered that a great success. Chris is a pharmacist who had worked at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and knew many of Jackson’s physicians.

“I decided to trust the doctors completely,” he said. “It wasn’t easy, but I didn’t look things up on the internet and did everything we were told.”

And it worked.

Jackson began to improve and soon was thriving like any other toddler. After living through the cancer diagnosis, the Fenchak family felt a strong desire to give back. They first explored starting their own fundraiser until they discovered CURE’s Lauren’s Run and learned that the Laurens for whom the event is named both fought the same cancer as Jackson. It seemed like a natural fit.

“We met CURE early in treatment through the Open Arms meals,” Chris explained. “They were always in the hospital as someone besides the doctors we could talk to. We also like that they work locally in Georgia. So we can see the donations at work. That’s important to us.”

“This has been life-changing for us,” added Jackson’s mother, Shannon. “He was stage 4 at diagnosis so we know how lucky we are and we don’t take that for granted. We were blessed with great support while we were going through treatment and we always felt embraced by CURE.”

Jackson is a thriving ten-year-old now. He loves to wrestle and play baseball. And in the seven years since their first Lauren’s Run, Team Jackson has raised over $25,000 to fight childhood cancer. They have also fallen in love with the event itself.

“I love to see the children – especially the sick kids who get to take a day off from the hospital to run and play,” said Shannon. “It’s just a joyful afternoon. Whenever I get the chance, I try to meet the parents there who are in the middle of treatment. I hope that seeing Jackson will be an inspiration to them.”

Jackson inspires us, as does Team Jackson and the efforts of the Fenchak family.

There is room for you, too! Whether you are a childhood cancer family or not, you are invited to Lauren’s Run. We would love for you to sign up, join a team, or start your own team. This event is making a difference in the fight against childhood cancer. In its 24 years, Lauren’s Run has raised over $4.1 million toward better and safer cures for kids like Jackson. For more information, please go to www.laurensrun.com and plan on joining us on April 28.