Bikers and other community members came together Sunday in Clermont County, Ohio, to support a little girl’s battle against cancer.
Jamie and Holly Gooch were saddened when doctor’s diagnosed their eight-year-old daughter, Emma, with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), according to Fox 19.
Holly said her child’s symptoms began showing up earlier this year.
“Bellyaches, and then in February, toward the end of February, she got a really bad sore throat,” she explained, adding that they found out about the cancer in March.
Since that time, Emma has been hospitalized on multiple occasions for her chemotherapy treatments and doctors later decided she also needed a bone marrow transplant.
“The next step was we got our family tested, which none of us were matches,” Holly recalled. “Be the Match was the organization that started looking for our donor, and we found one.”
To offer extra support and help the Gooch family with medical expenses, a group called “Rally Against Childhood Cancer” organized a “Rally for Emma” motorcycle ride that took place over the weekend.
“I just want to thank all those bike riders for chipping in and helping my family,” Emma told Fox 19.
The group shared photos of the event on its Facebook page Monday and thanked participants for their help.
“Because we operated the way we were meant to, everyone coming together in love to help someone in need, is why this turned out so great!!!” the post read.
Video footage of the event showed the huge line of bikers rumbling through a park on their way to places throughout the Tri-State:
“We always knew we had a big family out there, just with friends and extended family but the community is humongous,” said Emma’s dad, Jamie. “Way bigger than we ever dreamed and just the kindness that’s out there has blown us away.”