Action for Jackson Turns 7

The 7th Annual Action for Jackson Motorcycle Ride to benefit the Down Syndrome program at Boston Children’s Hospital took off at 11 a.m. from Anthony’s at the Green, 212 Prentice Street in Holliston, on Saturday, July 22. The day not only included the motorcycle ride, but has become a family event, with a buffet lunch, face painting, balloon animals, raffles and a DJ.
“We usually do it in October,” says Wendy Bisazza, 7-year-old Jackson’s Mom, who noted that last year only a few diehard riders were willing to brave monsoon-like rains for the annual event. Still, she says, last year, the hall for the family event afterward was packed.
“This year we decided to do it July,” says Bisazza, who said she and her husband Brian made it a family event so people wanted to participate who didn’t ride could take part.
Over the past six years, the Action for Jackson ride has earned about $4,000 a year, with a total of about $25,000 raised for Boston Children’s Hospital. The first Action for Jackson ride, says Brian Bisazza, was held by his Wrentham sportsmen’s club to benefit the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress.
“The MDSC was huge for us when we first had Jackson. This was my first baby with Down Syndrome, so I really didn’t know anything – they were huge, but when we started to go to Children’s, we started to realize the hospitals need help, too,” says Brian. “Whether you have money or not your child is going to get the same level of care whether you have Harvard or Masshealth, they treat them all the same way. They don’t care the color of your skin, who you are. We learned these people are amazing. They’re there at two in the morning to help your child because he’s had surgery. You might not have slept for 12 hours, but this doctor hasn’t slept in 24. They put the patients (and the families) first in that hospital.”
In fact, this past year, in 2016, Jackson received a Spirit Award from Boston Children’s Hospital, an award given to a community fundraiser who goes above and beyond in fundraising, but who also represents the hospital in a positive light. Jackson won the award for his and his family’s hard work not only for their Action for Jackson fundraisers, but also for their work in the Miles for Miracles program. Through the latter, they were paired up with a Boston marathoner, in this case Brandon Wade, fundraising on behalf of Boston Children’s Hospital.
“We got matched two years ago (with Wade), and we fundraise with him, we work with him to raise the money and go see him cross the finish line,” says Wendy. Wade will in fact run the New York Marathon next to raise money for the hospital.
Jackson, who will begin first grade in the fall and was scoring on the regular Kindergarten rubric, has spent a lot of time at Boston Children’s Hospital, having undergone about 21 surgeries since he was born, with one just in the past two years, when he attended Kindergarten.
“That hospital is just phenomenal,” says Brian.
“They take good care of Jackson,” adds Wendy, who says that the family is there so often they’ve actually gotten to know other familiar faces there. “We think we have it so hard, and then you see a two-year-old with chemo,” she says.
Wendy feels so strongly about Boston Children’s that she now helps answer phones for the Mix 104.1 Radiothon, which she did the day before Action for Jackson. Jackson and his family got to meet the Mix 104.1 DJ’s a couple years ago. On a side note, Jackson made some larger media friends when some gift bags he made for the Holliston Police Department became a national media story. In fact, he got a special package and message from actors on “The Big Bang Theory,” his favorite show.
Wendy Bisazza sees the fundraisers as a way to give back.
“We were told in the very beginning that Jackson might not ever walk, but he’s walking, and he’s walking because of Children’s. It’s an incredible place.”
Didn’t make it to Action for Jackson but still want to help the effort? You can donate at
http://fundraise.childrenshospital.org/site/TR?px=1297076&fr_id=1550&pg=....