Gilroy – After their teen son tumbled from his BMX bike last
fall, Adriana and Chris Tripp saw life both quicken and slow.
Gilroy – After their teen son tumbled from his BMX bike last fall, Adriana and Chris Tripp saw life both quicken and slow. At 17, Mario Bonfante Jr. was already a professional street-bike racer, flirting with endorsements from companies and giving advice to middle-aged riders. For months at a time, the family would board their motor home and cruise the country, traveling from race to race. Charismatic Mario was at the center of it, cracking jokes, with chameleon hair that changed colors nearly as rapidly as the turning wheels of his bike.
“He was an extremely talented rider,” said Anthony Luna, owner of Silicon Builders in Gilroy, who often watched Mario ride on the track at his house. “More importantly, he’s a really good kid – respectful. Though he could be a practical joker.”
Then Mario broke his neck on a dirt bike course in Christmas Hill Park Sept. 15, 2006 and everything changed. His father remembers carrying Mario that day alongside firefighter-paramedics, certain his back or neck was broken. Mario often sported casts on broken arms or legs; broken bones came with the sport, the Tripps knew. But as the family waited at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, it dawned on them that this injury would be different.
“At one point, I realized he wasn’t coming home right away,” said Adriana Tripp. “That he couldn’t just get a cast and come home.”
The teen suffered a broken neck and an injured spinal cord, and spent nearly a month in the hospital. Mario wasn’t wearing a helmet when he crashed, but doctors told the family it wouldn’t have prevented the injuries he suffered. His bicycle racing days were done. For the entire family, the rush of watching Mario round the track was replaced by endless hospital visits and phone calls from doctors, supervising the teen’s therapy. Life was busy, but hardly brisk.
“From day one, he hated it,” said Adriana Tripp, remembering Mario’s physical therapy, where he learned to adjust to his wheelchair. “I could see he was losing hope.”
Friends reached out to the family. When the Tripps built Mario a wheelchair-accessible room, complete with a roll-in shower, local plumbers and electricians volunteered their services, building the room at almost no cost.
When the Tripps settled in for a rare night relaxing in front of the television, and learned of a Carlsbad program called Project Walk through a reality show, friends rang their phone off the hook, calling to make sure they knew about it.
Within a week, they were in touch with Project Walk, planning Mario’s next step.
“We were already looking for something more aggressive,” said Adriana Tripp, “and it was like someone answered our prayers.”
The Carlsbad center, about a half-hour drive from San Diego, emphasizes exercise and recovery, an approach that suits Mario.
In Carlsbad, Mario’s friend Jimmy Souza tends to his needs, feeding and dressing him between Souza’s classes at Mira Costa College. Souza, who once lived next door to the Tripps in Hollister, volunteered to join Mario when he moved, to care for him. Adriana Tripp says Souza is “the only reason I could leave Mario down there.”
Souza says he didn’t hesitate to join Mario.
“I showed up at his house and he said, ‘I’m moving to San Diego for therapy,’ and I said, ‘All right, I’m moving with you,'” recalled Souza. “He asked, ‘Are you serious?’ I said, ‘Sure.'”
Souza “was always welcome in our home,” said Chris Tripp, “but now, he’s like a son.”
For the past few months, the Tripps have bounced from Gilroy to Carlsbad and back, visiting their son. The bills are mounting: Between his rent, therapy and a small fee for Souza, the Tripps spend $6,000 a month on his care. Insurance won’t cover the expense of Project Walk. To pay the expenses, the Tripps are holding two upcoming fundraisers: a paintball game, one of Mario’s favorite activities, and a dinner/dance, because “he’s all about class,” Adriana Tripp said.
Now, the Tripps are planning to relocate to Carlsbad. Neither Adriana nor Chris Tripp has a job, but they’re taking a leap of faith to be nearer to Mario.
“It’ll be a big change for them,” said Luna, “but that’s the sacrifice they’re willing to make, no question.”
Seven months after Mario’s accident, they are still recovering, sometimes more slowly than Mario himself, who still jokes, still flirts, and still plans to race – cars, if he’s able to drive them.
“He doesn’t look back and wish he’d read books and played badminton,” said Chris Tripp. “That’s not who he is.”
