WALLINGFORD, Conn. — The crash happened in an instant. Two years ago, Anthony Picchione, then just a 19-year-old Motocross racer from New Milford, was paralyzed from the waist down during a competition at a track in South Carolina.
Picchione, now 21, worked hard in his rehabilitation and recovery with the team at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford. During his nearly two-month stay there, he learned about a Denver-based nonprofit called “MotoDemption.”
“It’s like redemption but with 'Moto' at the beginning,” said Picchione.
MotoDemption was started by riders Aaron Hill and Davey Gonzales. Hill, also wheelchair-bound, had a mission to get back on a motocross track again — not to race, but to ride.
“What we do is we build dirt bikes for people who sustain life-changing injuries," Gonzales told FOX61. "So we deal a lot with paralysis, amputees, disabled veterans – anyone who thought they would never be able to ride a motorcycle – we basically build specialty adaptive bikes for them and give them the opportunity to ride again.”
Just 53 weeks after his tragic injury, Picchione was brought to Pala, California, by the MotoDemption team to ride at the Fox Racetrack. Picchione’s bike is adaptive — with hand controls and a safety cage.
“I will never forget as long as I live the feeling of pulling in the clutch and taking off for the first time and hearing everyone in the background hooting and hollering and yelling and seeing the tears in my mom and dad's face and my brother — that was the most special part of the whole deal,” Picchione said of his first time back on a bike.
Mission to ride again
“There is no reason your life can’t be active after you sustain a life-changing injury and we’ve helped 51 people get back on a dirt bike," Gonzales added. "We saw a need for it and we wanted to see if we could help as many people as we can.”
Picchione said he will keep working with MotoDemption, getting back aboard a bike whenever the chance arises. In the meantime, he said he wants to stay around racing circles as a track reporter -- writing about his favorite sport.
Picchione now has a number of adaptive riding experiences under his belt.
“Just to get back to doing what I love… it’s amazing, I couldn’t believe I got to do it again,” he said.
To learn more about MotoDemption, click here.
Jimmy Altman is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at jaltman@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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