'So humbling to see': Thousands of bikers join birthday card drop-off for seven-year-old Rowley Regis cancer patient Amelia Kolpa
Thousands of bikers took to the streets to escort more than 90,000 birthday cards for seven-year-old palliative care patient Amelia Kolpa.
Amelia, from Rowley Regis, has been in and out of hospital since the age of two and a half with neuroblastoma.
Now coming up on her eighth birthday on March 3, Amelia had only one wish: to break the record for the most birthday cards to be received on a birthday.
With Amelia's wishes in mind, an appeal was quickly launched to raise awareness of the poorly girl's dream, with thousands upon thousands of people from all over the world quickly rushing to their local card shop to get involved.
Among the appeals for Amelia's dream was one set up by Hells Angels biker and owner of the Lockside Steakhouse in Wollaston, Matt Lemm.
Matt and his team organised collection points around the West Midlands for birthday card drop-offs, and working with media creator Michael Whithnall, the campaign has quickly amassed more than 90,000 cards for the youngster.
A 5pm on Thursday (February 5), a reported 2,000 bikers took to the streets of Stourbridge to escort the vans that would deliver the cards to Amelia's family home.
Addressing the amassed crowd at the steakhouse, Matt said: "Two weeks back, I got a message asking if I could help give an appeal some traction. I get asked to do this all the time, but for some reason, this one touched my heart; it really struck a chord.
"So I got in touch with Michael, and we made a video, we did it and I thought nothing of it. I went to the gym, and when I came back, the battery had gone on my phone. I received so many messages, calls, and Facebook calls about it.
"It was unbelievable."
The huge convoy of bikers escorted three vans full of cards through the streets of Stourbridge and Rowley Regis, delivering the colourful envelopes to Amelia well in time for her birthday.
Talking after the event Matt said: "It's so humbling to see this, I'm humbled and extremely proud. It really shows what can be achieved when we work together.
"The whole community, nationally and internationally has pulled together to do this. And with the ride, considering that it was wet, windy and cold, for so many people to turn up and show their support - it's truly unbelievable."
On January 28, Matt said that the response to the appeal had 'incredible', adding that his team had amassed 18,000 cards.
By February 5, Matt confirmed that more than 95,000 cards had been collected, with thousands more due to be delivered.
Matt said that he had put the word out to bikers across the nation, including his biker club counterparts across the world.
He added: "We have had cards from all over the world come in, I think we counted around 95,000 and more than 2,000 attendees in the end.
"We had cards from Canada, America, Australia, pretty much the whole of Europe. We even had some from Colombia, the outreach has just avalanched.
Amelia's aunt, Charmaine Grace, previously said that they were looking forward to presenting the cards and gifts to the youngster, and also thanked the public.
She said: "She's been going through this treatment since she was two and a half and most birthdays for her are spent in the hospital, so she wanted to do something big for her birthday.
"To us, it's just a card, but it means the world to her."
Collections of cards are still continuing after this week's delivery, with everyone encouraged to help the youngster achieve her dream.
See a list of drop-off locations below:
Lockside Steakhouse, Enville Street, Wollaston, DY8 3TQ
Highfield Primary School, Beeches Road, Rowley Regis, B65 0DA
Leasowes High School, Kent Road, Halesowen, B62 8PJ
Artisan Espresso Bar Ltd, 168 Halesowen Street, Blackheath, Rowley Regis, B65 0ES
Fairfield Inn, Fairfield Road, Hurst Green, Halesowen, B62 9JA
Party Angels, Cannock Road, Wolverhampton WV10 8PX
