BRUNSWICK, Ohio — Since 2020, Medina County Trike & Bike has raised $187,820 – fully funding two pediatric cancer research projects at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital. The event, as well as its mission, is a deeply personal one for many of the participants.
“Cancer is prevalent in our family – my dad passed away in 2017,” said Vickie Dibler, whose son, Dawson, was one of the 103 riders at this year’s Trike & Bike event Sept. 13 at the Brunswick High School stadium. “I was also friends in high school with Collin Nemet’s mother (Kim Nemet).”
Collin Nemet, who died of brain cancer in 2021, just short of his 12th birthday, is the inspiration behind Medina County Trike & Bike. Shortly after Collin’s death, his grandmother, Patricia Kaszar, suggested to City Manager Carl DeForest – a regular participant in the Cleveland Clinic’s VeloSano adult bike ride for cancer research – that Brunswick should host a Trike & Bike event.
DeForest noted that Medina County Trike & Bike was the highest grossing Trike & Bike event in Northeast Ohio in its first two years.
Dibler’s mother, Anna Morgenthaler, said when her husband was receiving cancer treatment, he was close to the pediatric oncology wing of the hospital. Mergenthaler said “seeing kids going through what he was” greatly impacted him.
Dr. Rabi Hanna, chair of the Pediatric/Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s, said that despite the ongoing efforts of doctors and researchers, “we lose so many people, even now it 2024″ to cancer. Hanna said that with only 4% of all government funding of cancer research going to discover treatments and cures for pediatric cancer, efforts like Trike & Bike are all the more important.
“The number one reason kids die from disease is cancer,” Hanna said to the assembled riders at the start of the event. “But I have faith in my superheroes. And do you know who my superheroes are? My superheroes are you.”
This year’s top individual Medina County Trike & Bike fundraisers were Gabriel Napoli, with $2740 raised; Griffin Mayan, with $2,105 raised; Stella Wambsgans, with $1,530 raised; and Harper McClain, who raised $870.
The top fundraising teams were City of Brunswick Junior Peddlers, raising $5,095; Crushin’ Cancer, with $3760 raised; and Brunswick Dodgers, with $2,590 raised.
In addition, the Jay Farner family donated $10,000 as a match to support fundraising efforts.
Overall, this year’s ride raised $51,752.
As the ride kicked off, brothers Nick, 10, and Vinny, 11, Spina playfully argued over who would come out ahead in the ride -even though the event was not a race. Following the ride, Dawson Dibler said his three laps around the track beat his personal best from last year’s event.
“Of all the people behind me, none of the passed me,” he said.
Hanna said the generosity of Brunswick and Medina residents continues to astound him.
“This community is amazing,” he said.
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