Beginning at 12:30p 5K Fun Run, Volleyball Tournament, Bags Tournaments, Inflatables, Face Painting, DJ, Balloons, Bands, and more!
Benefits Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
Silas Martin was a Decatur native who died at age 16 after battling brain cancer over ten years. Although visually impaired as a result of the first tumors he had, Silas often spoke up for other “white cane users” and to increase brain tumor awareness. He also had an indomitable spirit, always
choosing hope over despair.
Silas’ brain cancer came back with a vengeance in fall of 2014. During his extended stay at St. Louis
Children’s Hospital, an organization of Central Illinois motorcycle riders called to grant him a
Christmas “wish”. He responded to Wishes on Wheels with, “I don’t need stuff. They should use that
money to get presents for a younger patient that really needs a wish.” As his mom prepared to hang
up, she remembered Silas had always wanted to ride in a sidecar. The caller promised to make that
happen in the spring when Silas was feeling better.
Silas didn’t get better, and was sent home for hospice November 28th. The representative from
W.O.W. called December 5th with instructions to be ready Sunday the 7th for a handful of riders to
grant him his wish to ride.
Sunday, December 7, 2014 was bitter cold. Just two weeks before he passed, over 80 bikes lined up in
the alley behind Silas’ house. In the front was a motorcycle with a sidecar. Gentle hands lifted him
from his wheelchair to the sidecar and bundled him in blankets. Silas got his wish to ride in a sidecar,
and due to his selfless generosity, a family with 5 children (3 of whom had critical health issues) was
gifted with an SUV full of Christmas presents. Minutes before the sidecar ride, Silas told WAND TV’s
reporter, “If you’ve been given today, appreciate it.” He’d been saying for months, “I’m healed – this
side or the other.”
Papa John Strode contacted Silas and his family after a few days to relay that the community of bikers was so moved by Silas – and his spirit – that an annual event was being created to memorialize
Silas’ adoption into the biker family. Silas was asked to choose a charity to receive fundraising. He
chose Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation which funds awareness and research to cure all pediatric
cancer. (Silas had donated all his brain tumors over the years to research; at his death, he donated his
brain as well.)
SSW @ 8 mph
63 %
0.0 in
30