High Rollers Hosting Fundraisers For Local 8-Year-Old Girl With Brain Cancer
by James Coulter
Around July 4, 8-year-old Tinley complained about severe headaches followed by vomiting. Her parents took her to the doctor, and following several tests, she was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Recently, Tinley had a golf ball-sized tumor removed from her brain. Her family is traveling back and forth from Gainesville to have her receive further treatment, including 33 days of radiation treatment. She recently arrived in Jacksonville to start her treatment.
When Jen Wilson learned about the young girl and her family’s plight through GoFundMe, she and her crew at High Rollers Car Truck & Motorcycle Club of Polk County decided to help Tinley by raising money for their various medical expenses.
As someone with a cousin who had a similar chronic cancer, Wilson knew what the girl and her family were going through, and she wanted to do everything she could to help them through their time of need.
“It was a four-year battle for my cousin,” she said. “So this was pretty close to home. We hope for a good turnout. It is a big financial struggle happening for a child like that.”
She and her teammate, David Bryant, travel to a different car and motorcycle shows to help raise awareness and proceeds for local causes. In addition, they collaborate with other clubs to achieve similar goals.
“We help the community,” Wilson said. “It is not about winning things; it is more about helping people and donating and community service time to give back to everyone.”
High Rollers Car Truck & Motorcycle Club Of Polk County hosted their first fundraiser for young Tinley at Rent King in Haines City on Sunday. The event had them sell raffle items and provide a bucket for anyone willing to donate.
They had collaborated with other local clubs. One of their partners, Simply Flawed from Auburndale, was expected to attend, but they were unable to due to their members attending a funeral service for one of their loved ones in Lakeland, Roe said.
The local club has been around since 2000. They host regular car and motorcycle shows to benefit charities and people with severe illnesses, most notably cancer.
Cabby Roe, the leader and founder, was diagnosed with colon cancer six years ago. He received surgery that removed a billiard-sized polyp and 18 inches of his transverse colon, and he has been cancer-free ever since. He also had an older brother who passed away with cancer. So he knows the personal struggles that other cancer patients go through.
“That is what motivates me to do this for people,” he said. “Soanything that has to do with cancer or a major life-threatening illness, we are all about helping people with that.”
In addition, the co-founder and vice president who helped him start the club in 2000 passed away five years later from melanoma skin cancer. Roe has been running the club since then in memory of his close friend, he said.
“I spent a lot of time with him the last couple weeks before he passed and last thing he told me was whatever you do keep the club alive,” Roe said.
The High Rollers host various shows for special causes. Next month, on September 19, they will be hosting another show to raise money for a local dog park named in honor of a fire dog that recently passed away.
Recently, they hosted a show at Rent King, one of whose employees had passed away due to complications from COVID-19. Their show raised $1,500, Roe said.
“That is what we are all about,” he said. “It is not always about trophies. We like to give back to the community and support the people who support us.”
High Rollers will be hosting another show in the next few weeks as a fundraiser for Tinley. For more information, visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/HighRollersTruck4x4ClubOfPolkCo
