Motorcyclists Deliver Christmas Presents To Children Battling Cancer

On Sunday, hundreds of motorcycles rolled into neighborhoods. The riders were checking off Christmas lists for children with cancer.

Riley Johnson is one of eight children who were chosen as “champions” this year for the Bob Stoops Champion Foundation. Screaming with excitement, Riley could hear the roar of the motorcycles coming from a few blocks away.

“Dad, look! Dad, look!” he screamed. “Oh my god!”

In January, Riley was diagnosed with stage 2 embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue cancer.

“His tumor was located behind his right ear so he had to go through 42 weeks of chemo therapy and 32 treatments of proton radiation,” Riley's mom, Wendy King, said.

“I get a bunch of shots,” Riley said.

It’s a tough disease to battle, so these riders want to make sure Riley and his family get the best Christmas possible. Escorted by dozens of police motorcycles, Santa and approximately 200 elves on wheels came swooping in, and hand-delivered gifts to Riley.

Tim Morris is one of the riders and helped organize the event.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable to watch both the child and their family react to this many people coming and supporting them battling this terrible disease,” Morris said.

Riley’s face lit up as dozens of presents were dropped off on his front porch.

“He’s one out of millions of kids around the world that got cancer, and for them to pick my son out of all of them, it’s just heart-touching,” Riley's dad, Cori Johnson, said.

On top of a motorcycle show for Riley, the family received big news making this is the best holiday season his family could ask for.

“Currently, as of yesterday, he is NED, no evidence of disease. He is cancer free,” said King with a big smile on her face.

While all these children are champions for fighting the disease, not all children will defeat cancer. Morris said some of their champions in years past have passed away from the disease already. He understands this could be the last Christmas for some of these children.

"We just try to bring a little bit of light into their life for a little period of time," Morris said.  

For a few moments, he hopes the families can forget the evils of cancer and take some time to enjoy the surprise and the smiles on the kiddos' faces.