Kids on trikes and bikes will roll onto the track at Brunswick High School at 6 p.m. on Sept. 11, kicking off the seventh year of a fundraiser born from one Brunswick family's heartbreak. The Brunswick Trike and Bike, a Cleveland Clinic fundraiser for pediatric cancer research, has grown from a single local ride into an event expected to push its seven-year total past $250,000 this year.
The event traces back to Collin Nemet, a Brunswick boy who died of brain cancer in 2021 just short of his 12th birthday, according to Cleveland.com. Collin was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a common form of pediatric brain cancer, in August 2018 at age nine. He survived two recurrences before passing away on April 22, 2021, and his family later donated tissue to a post-mortem research registry, according to Gift from a Child. Collin was the top fundraiser in the ride's inaugural year, per Cleveland.com's report.
How a Family's Request Became a City Tradition
Brunswick City Manager Carl DeForest brought the ride to town in 2020 after Collin's grandmother, Patricia Kaszar, asked for a local event following his diagnosis, according to the Medina Gazette. The event was originally known as the Medina County Trike and Bike before taking on Brunswick's name, per Cleveland.com. DeForest's connection to the Nemet family reportedly began years earlier, when he met Collin in 2018 while delivering Thanksgiving meals with the local Rotary Club, the Gazette reports.
DeForest's continued involvement hasn't gone unnoticed. He received the Outstanding Individual Community Advocate Award at the Medina County Business Awards in October, recognized for organizing Brunswick's ride every year since 2020, the Medina Gazette reported at the time.
Youth Fundraising Keeps Climbing
Last September, 65 Medina County students took part in Brunswick's sixth annual ride and raised $32,018 for pediatric cancer research, according to the Gazette's reporting. Grace DePompei led all student fundraisers with $1,225, followed by Harper McClain at $1,000 and Stella Wambsgans at $850 — with McClain and Wambsgans repeat top fundraisers in recent years, per the same account.
This year's ride is open to children ages 3 to 12, and elementary schools across Brunswick have fielded teams to compete, according to Cleveland.com. Sign-ups are already underway, with participants paying a $25 fee and encouraged to raise an additional $25 in pledges. Riders can register at velosano.org/trike-bike/, per Cleveland.com's report.
Where the Money Actually Goes
Every dollar raised by youth participants in VeloSano Trike & Bike events goes directly to pediatric cancer research at Cleveland Clinic Children's, according to VeloSano. That distinction matters nationally: childhood cancer receives less than 4 percent of federal cancer research funding in the United States, according to reporting by Medium, leaving pediatric oncology projects reliant on community efforts like Brunswick's.
Those dollars have funded concrete projects. VeloSano money has supported a specialized patient registry and trial tracking system led by Dr. Seth Rotz, Director of the Childhood Cancer Survivorship Program at Cleveland Clinic Children's, designed to streamline enrollment of young patients into clinical trials, per VeloSano.
Part of a Much Larger Movement
Brunswick's ride is one piece of a regional network. Across Northeast Ohio in 2025, VeloSano Trike & Bike community rides raised $148,595 with 400 junior riders participating, according to VeloSano. Since the program launched in 2018, it has engaged more than 5,400 junior riders across 730 teams, the organization notes.
Cleveland Clinic's broader VeloSano campaign has raised more than $95 million for cancer research since 2014, according to WKYC. In 2025 alone, the campaign brought in $14.5 million across its signature events, drawing more than 4,000 participants and 30,000 individual donors. Brunswick's own tally so far — $238,000 raised for pediatric cancer research over the past seven years — is a small but steady contribution to that larger total, per Cleveland.com's reporting.
