Bikers come together to celebrate birthday of Lorain boy with pediatric cancer

LAGRANGE — A community of motorcyclists rallied around Lorain boy Connor Rutledge at his third birthday party Saturday. Connor is battling leukemia and neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that develops from immature nerve cells around several areas of the body. About 75 motorcycles roared into the birthday party in LaGrange after Connor's family had arrived, drawing everyone out of the backyard in celebration. The bikers organized following a Facebook post from Connor's aunt, Lex Tyree, of Elyria, asked for bikers to attend the party, whether it's just one "or a whole fleet of them." Many of the bikers planned the visit with their clubs, including the Lorain chapter of the Latin American Motorcycle Association. A member of their chapter knows Connor's family personally and recently had the club visit them at his home in Lorain. But others had no connection to the family and decided to come after seeing the Facebook post and wanting to brighten a child's day. Connor, who is known to love motorcycles, begins a treatment today that will target both the leukemia and neuroblastoma. He was diagnosed with the neuroblastoma when he was two months old and was temporarily in remission until it returned. The leukemia diagnosis came just a couple months ago. His parents, Kory Rutledge and Sara Buska, both of Lorain, carried him around the crowd of bikers, who took turns giving well-wished to the family. The bikers presented the family with $200 in donations they collected earlier. Connor cracked a smile when everyone posed for a photo in front of the rows of bikes in the lawn. "It meant the world to him," said Kory Rutledge. Before the bikers dispersed, they decided to hold a group prayer for Connor and his family. Pastor Colynn Deulley, standing in the bed of an old pickup truck, spoke up over the crowd. "The Lord tells us in his word to gather the elders and pray for the sick," she said. "I know this is a celebration of Connor's birthday, but I'm going to ask you guys to bring in your circle and encircle him and his mother and his father." Everyone at the party moved closer and joined hands. Those closest to the family laid hands on them. "I ask you Lord Jesus to cover Connor from his head to his toes with your mighty blood," Deulley prayed. "We lay him before your feet that he would move forward in his life." And regardless of Connor's health moving forward, his third birthday party will have been one he and his family will never forget.