our why

Fueling the fight

Patients face a lot of struggles beyond their health; they face many financial hardships as well. As an adolescent cancer survivor and Nurse Practitioner in Pediatric Oncology; founder, Danielle Kuban-Johnston saw that one of the most consistent struggles faced by families was the lack of steady reliable transportation assistance.  The cost to park at the medical center is $12 p/day with no in/out privileges. Many patients come for treatment daily, weekly, and it can continue for months to even years. Sure, there is the public transportation system, but children should not ride in an immunocompromised state. Lastly, there is the Medicaid transportation system but often times they are unreliable in regard to the stringent pick-up times needed and only allow one parent and no siblings to ride along.  After seeing the above-mentioned issues coupled with a previous patient that Danielle absolutely adored telling her “it would be so cool to ride in a fast car like a Lamborghini, because my dad has a truck and it doesn’t go fast” the concept of DREAM RYDES came alive. She contacted a friend and now co-founder Chris Mastrangelo who was more than willing to take him for a ride in the requested “Red Lamborghini”. They witnessed first-hand the sparkle in his eyes, as this was one of the last times spent with him prior to his passing.  The innumerable amount of joy witnessed in Kye and the memories his family can forever cherish is the WHY of DREAM RYDES! DREAM RYDES’s passion is to “fuel” the fight by providing transportation assistance as well as giving other local children like Kye and their families the RYDE of their LIFE!

In memory of our first Dream Ryder Kye Davis