When a little boy with lymphoma made his last wish known to his family, they shared it, hoping to rouse a little support. The 6-year-old, an enthusiastic motocross rider, wanted to see bikers ride past his home and make some noise.
And to his surprise, approximately 15,000 bikers showed up.
From the German town of Rhauderfehn, Lower Saxony, Kilian Sass is the son of a biker belonging to a 24-member local bikers’ group. Fellow member Ralf Pietsch took it upon himself to make the little boy’s dying wish a reality.
The catalyst was a heartfelt voice message from Kilian himself, where he asked for bikers.
Just four days later, on July 24, bikers showed up in full force to support the terminally ill boy.
Chaperoned by Leer Police, bikers met at three meeting points around Rhauderfehn before parading past Kilian’s house to holler and beep their horns for the brave 6-year-old. The bike parade began at 9.30 a.m. and was completed at approximately 5 p.m.
“The parents were overwhelmed by the crowd and the sympathy of the arriving bikers,” Pietsch, a 57-year-old occupational therapist and rehab technician, told The Epoch Times. “Kilian himself watched the drive-by with a smile and one or two screams of joy ... It was a great, long, and meaningful ride!”
Parade attendee Agnes Wienberg told The Epoch Times that she doesn’t know the family personally but read the appeal on Facebook.
“I was impressed by the number of people who answered this call; tears came very often and I kept saying, ‘Just awesome, you’re just mega,’” she shared, adding, “I thought it was mega that the motorcyclists stick together like that.”
Wienberg, a mother and grandmother herself, believes that the parade gave Kilian and his family a lot of strength.
Kilian was diagnosed with lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, in January. Despite emergency surgery and chemotherapy, he and his family received heartbreaking news on July 15: Kilian’s cancer cannot be cured.
Pietsch has organized other campaigns in the past but says that nothing has matched the “framework and emotional scope” of Kilian’s campaign. He thanked all participants and the support of the authorities that made the huge-scale parade possible.
Sadly, Pietsch reported that Kilian’s health is in decline since the event. Yet Rhauderfehn bikers are carrying the little boy’s passion with them in their hearts as they ride.
