Stephen Murray Helps Fellow Rider “Stay Strong”
Links in this article will open in a new window, so you will not lose your place
On November 17, 2010, the BMX News forum carried a thread started by the Nesvig Family with news about San Diego BMX Racing legend, Danny Meadows. Danny has been battling Multiple Sclerosis the past few years, and it has moved him from the two wheels of his cruiser to the four wheels of a wheelchair.
Danny has dirt in his DNA, and has served the BMX Racing community faithfully and selflessly for years. He built the “Meadowsland” in his backyard, and there was rarely a day when BMXers, MTBers and all kinds of other action sports aficionados weren’t there riding, hanging out and having their bikes wrenched by one of the West coast’s best.
When the ABA and US Olympic Committee came together to put a permanent BMX track on OTC/Chula Vista property, it was Danny Meadows and his family who helped make it happen, and served as the first Track Operators for what we now enjoy as one of the top local and national tracks in the nation, if not the world.
Back to the BMX News thread. The one thing that would get Danny back on the track was a four-wheel four-cross downhill bike (see link below). Easy enough, right? Well, yeah, with the will to do it on Danny’s part…and $10,000. Danny had the stoke, that’s for sure. So, his friends set about raising the funds to get him the bike.
The Nesvigs, joined by Tyler Brown and his mom, and a posse of other friendly do-gooders worked the crowd at last year’s ABA Grands, “passing the bucket” and staging a silent auction chock-full of awesome prizes. Between then and now, they managed to raise about $4,000 to put toward Danny’s ride. But the $10,000 goal was still a big ol mountain in the distance. Until…
At the Grands, Tyler got to talking with Marco Dellisola, the current UCI Masters World Champ, and driving force behind the “Stay Strong Stephen Murray” movement in the BMX Racing community. Tyler told him the full story, and Marco said he wanted to try and help, if he could. Marco is a “heart of gold” type as well, inventing innovative ways to help his best friend, Stephen Murray, as he struggles with a spinal cord injury suffered at a 2007 Dew Tour stop in Baltimore. That accident left Stephen paralyzed from the neck down, and confined to a motorized wheelchair.
After the Grands, Marco was back in So. Cal before heading back over to his native England, and told Stephen about Danny’s dream to ride again. Friends say that Stephen was inspired by Danny’s story, and wanted to be a part of making his dream a reality.
So, through his “Stay Strong Stephen Murray Foundation,” which is supported By Oakley, Murray and Dellisola got a donation together, which was presented to Danny by Stephen, himself. Marco and Tyler were by their sides, last weekend in Chula Vista.
To hear Danny tell it after the big moment, “They told me I needed to come down TODAY (Saturday) to see the race…I wasn’t sure I could do it, but I got over here…and they sprung it on me…I couldn’t believe it, I was blown away.”
The donation was a $5,000 check to all-but-close the gap between what Danny’s friends had raised and the goal. Standing there watching this unfold was a lesson in humility and humanity at once.
Danny was obviously overwhelmed by the generosity, and was nearly moved to tears when the presentation check was brought out. And there was Stephen, a man whom a cynic might assume would be the last person to write a check like that, when his own expenses often top $10,000 per month.
You’d have to have ice water running through your veins to not have an apple in your throat at the sight of that exchange. But, we’re all “tough” BMXers, so we did our best to smile and choke it back.
With all the selfishness and greed going around in the real world today, Stephen’s generosity to a fellow rider is an example which, we feel, should be headline news on every network on the air. And if it cannot be, then we owe it to all we can reach to report it as widely as possible.
Murray’s donation put the goal in reach, with about $800 more needed to write the check for the bike. Spurred on by ace announcer Mike Redman, everyone within earshot reached deep into their pockets. Singles, fives, twenties, fifties and a C-note or two were waving in the air, held by people who couldn’t wait to help. Before long, Redbone’s assistants had more cash in their fingers than a hot dog vendor at nearby PETCO Park.
By the time Danny made his way to the SX track for the Elite racing, the goal was accomplished…he will have his new scoot in a matter of weeks.
Danny says he only has one more favor to ask of his friends.
“I want them to push me up to the top of that (SX) hill. I definitely want to give that a try. And if i pull it off, I’m going to try that first set!”
We have no doubt he’ll make it…he’s cleared larger obstacles in life in the past year! And when he does it, you can be sure BMX News will report back to you with the footage and the photos.
—Mike Carruth
Postscript: We encourage you to check out Stephen Murray’s Stay Strong site (link below), and help, if you can, by buying a T-Shirt, or making a donation of any size.
Links
Stephen Murray’s “Stay Strong” Site
“Pass The Bucket” – A video edit on life through Stephen Murray’s eyes
