As riders and powersports enthusiasts, most of us know very well that life is short. That's why we strive to enjoy the time we have here, and to live our lives to the fullest doing these activities that we love. And most of us live with the knowledge that a lot of us, very simply, don't know when our time will be up, so we have to make the most of it.
In a perfect world, kids wouldn't have to worry about how long they're going to live. Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in, and plenty of them do.
The kid you see in the photo above is named Gaven. He's a nine-year-old Texas boy who's living with Duchenne muscular distrophy. It's a particularly aggressive form of muscular distrophy that primarily affects boys, with onset starting as young as two to three years of age.
According to the Muscular Distrophy Association, current treatments can help those who suffer from the disease make it into their 20s and 30s, but even that short lifespan is a relatively recent accomplishment. In other words, it's an understatement to say that it's a really rough hand for anyone to be dealt.
So, even more than a lot of us, those who suffer from DMD (and their families) know and appreciate how precious every single day is. That's also exactly why the charity riding group called Mile Monsters rolled up to help make one of Gaven's biggest dreams come true.
Gaven lives in Texas, and he's been interested in motorcycles for a long time. In particular, he loves Harleys. So he wanted to do a tour of Texas and visit every Harley dealership in the Lone Star state along the way. And he wanted to do it in just eight days.
With the help of five dedicated Mile Monsters riders, Gaven was able to make one of his biggest dreams come true. Blue-taped helmet secured on his head, he rode as a happy passenger on the backs of each of the crew's bikes in turn. They even made a feature-length documentary film about the journey, which you can see a trailer for above and watch the whole thing on the Mile Monsters YouTube channel.
In addition to making his own dream come true, Gaven also wanted to inspire other kids by sharing his story, and the Mile Monsters want to continue doing good and making a difference in the world.
Times are tough, and they're only going to get tougher. But having a strong community spirit and doing what you can where you can to help those around you is how we get through even the most difficult of times. It's stories like these that help remind us of what people can do when we take the time to really help each other out.
After all, we're only on this planet for a short time, each and every one of us. So we have to make every day count.
