Revving engines for a good cause

By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express

For Nella Figliano, there is no sweeter sound than the revving of 500 motorcycles engines.

The Vaughan resident is the organizer of the annual Ride for Sick Kids, which takes place Sunday, Aug. 13.

The event will see more than 500 motorcyclists make their way from Mackie Harley Davidson in Oshawa to the Lake Scugog waterfront in Port Perry.

Even after years of the ride, Figliano says it remains a sight to behold.

“I still get goosebumps. When we leave that place, I get on the highway and I can still see the line up of motorcycles heading out from Mackie,” Figliano says.

Over the past eight years, $285,600 has been raised through the ride to purchase critical equipment to help save the lives of children at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Figliano, an educational assistant who works with special needs children and is a mother of three, says she came up with the idea for the ride when she purchased a motorcycle at Mackie Harley Davidson.

“I just felt the need to do a charity event. A lot of people have been touched by Sick Kids, and if you haven’t, you know someone who has,” Figliano says.

The goal for this year’s event is $50,000 to purchase a small, automated drug dispensing cabinet.

“Making a child comfortable as they face their illness is a real challenge and pain control is a critical element of care,” Figliano says. “These cabinets ensure pain medication is always close by and available for quick relief.”

After arriving from their trip to Port Perry, riders and their supporters will enjoy a barbecue and live entertainment at the waterfront.

In addition, there is the added attraction of Brits on the Lake, a show featuring classic British sports cars.

Eight-year-old Antonio Loberto of Vaughan has been selected as this year’s ambassador for the ride.

Antonio was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in January 2014.

“By 4:30 p.m. that day we were on the eighth floor of Sick Kids, trying to make sense of the fact that our son has cancer,” says Antonio’s mother Rosemary Garisto. “So many thoughts rush into your mind. How is this possible?  How is he going to get through this? How are we going to get through this? And then your four-year-old son, laying in a hospital bed, pale and tired says, ‘Don’t cry mommy, I’m not going to die.’”

At that moment, Garisto says, everything changes, “You put on the biggest smile and find courage and strength you didn’t know you have and you never look back. If your precious baby can remain positive at a time like this then you have to as well.”

Since then, Garisto says it has been a “bumpy journey” but Antonio has received incredible care at Sick Kids.

“There have been 1,185 days of chemotherapy, 45 nights in the hospital, 26 lumbar punctures, two MRI’s and one port,” she says. “There is no other hospital and staff that I would want to look after my son but the nurses and doctors at Sick Kids.”

To register or donate for Ride for Sick Kids, visit www.rideforsickkids.com.