Motorcyclists rally outside Arnold teen's death bed vigil; parents cherish boy's enduring spirit

As their son clung to life from a hospital bed, Seth Fiedor’s parents felt the walls begin to rumble.

The loud vibrations reverberating from outside UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh were familiar to Craig Fiedor, a motorcyclist who had put the word out seeking riders interested in showing up for Seth, who turned 17 earlier this month and went into cardiac arrest at his Arnold home Tuesday.

Over a two-hour period Thursday night, hundreds of motorcyclists from across Western Pennsylvania passed by, with many parking and continuing to rev their engines so the noise from their pipes could be heard and felt inside Seth’s room five stories above. Nurses and other patients and visitors flocked to the windows to see not only throngs of motorcycles but some ATVs, motorbikes and crowds of people waving Terrible Towels and donning yellow — Seth’s favorite color.

From Seth’s hospital room window, flagged for onlookers by a yellow smiley-face sun balloon, Craig Fiedor took photos and videos from his phone. Seth’s mom, Nichole Fiedor, formed her hands into a heart as a gesture of gratitude.

“The support that the motorcycle community and everybody has shown has been unreal,” she said while hugging friends and waving to passing bikers at Penn and Friendship avenues. “Not only can you hear everything inside the hospital, but you can feel the rumble and the love.”

The showing, which included riders from the Alle-Kiski Valley to Pittsburgh’s eastern, southern and western suburbs, was far more than either parent had anticipated when they put the word out on Facebook just hours beforehand.

“Just from a couple of posts and the way that it spread …. Everyone wanted to come out and show their love, what a beautiful thing,” Nichole Fiedor said.

Though their son lay unconscious and intubated, his parents turned on his bilateral cochlear implants, in hopes he might hear the roar of one of his favorite sounds.

“There’s a young boy up there sick. … He likes the sounds of motorcycles, and that’s what brought us out here,” said Richie Little, 40, among a group of motorcyclists who rode in from Beaver County.

“He wanted to hear loud pipes,” said fellow Beaver Falls motorcyclist Don Weckerley. “I got quiet pipes, but I’m still here to support him.”

Many supporters weren’t sure just how dire Seth’s situation was.

When asked, his teary-eyed mother told some of them softly, “Seth isn’t doing well. … He’s going to be in a better place.”

Only Seth’s family members and closest friends knew about the litany of obstacles, operations and progressive disabilities Seth had confronted before Tuesday’s hospitalization, beginning with his extremely premature birth.

Those who knew Seth best say they draw inspiration not merely from Seth’s strength and endurance but also his ability to make the most of his days despite confronting extraordinary challenges.

“He’s the strongest individual that I know, and I don’t say that because he’s my son,” said Craig Fiedor, a machinist and programmer at Touchstone Advanced Composites in West Virginia. “He could find pleasure in the simplest things. He enjoyed life, no matter what it stacked up against him.”

Unlikely thrill-seeker

When Seth was born via an emergency operation, Nicole Fiedor, an Air Force veteran and former preschool teacher, had been pregnant just 27 weeks. Fewer than 1% of U.S. babies are born that early, when the potential for medical complications is high.

In Seth’s case, the problems spanned several fronts: Seth developed multiple types of cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that affects the ability to move and left him quadriplegic and confined to a wheelchair, along with damage to his sight and hearing, chronic lung disease and asthma.

By 10 months old, Seth went completely deaf and soon after got cochlear implants.

At 5 years old, Seth lost his ability to speak and eat by mouth. Because he couldn’t swallow, his mom had to use a gastrostomy tube even to feed him water.

At 10, he underwent a major spinal surgery, after which he lost more mobility.

He had daily seizures and required an oxygen tank to breathe.

And yet, Seth Fiedor was known to his family as a thrill-seeker with a contagious smile and hunger for adventure.

He got especially excited while riding roller coasters, including at Kennywood and Cedar Point amusement parks. The family would have to explain to onlookers criticizing them for letting him on the ride that he wasn’t in danger of injuring his neck but rather used a supportive neck brace because he had no muscle control.

During summers, Seth looked forward to the water slide at a Harrison public pool, with his mom helping him down while his older brother, Brandon, waited at the bottom to make sure he landed safely.

“Of course, we got the crazy looks for that, too, but we knew what we were doing,” Craig Fiedor said. “We wanted to give him as much quality of life as we could.”

Though he couldn’t ride one himself, Seth loved sitting atop his dad’s motorcycles, and once, he got to sit with his dad in a sidecar on a ride with 50 bikes from Gatto Cycle Shop in Tarentum through Apollo and back.

“He just smiled from ear to ear the whole time,” Craig Fiedor said.

Seth also loved watching wrestling on TV, and playing with brightly colored African cichlid fish, which his dad trained to eat food from Seth’s partially closed hands when he placed them in the tank. He’d been attending the Day School at the Children’s Institute in Pittsburgh with an aide but had been doing virtual schooling during the covid-19 pandemic.

Seth managed to bring joy to his loved ones during the darker moments, too. Craig Fiedor recalled first seeing Seth after an especially significant surgery on his spine. He had trouble seeing the scars showing his son had been sliced open from his neck to his lower back.

But Seth looked up at his dad’s face, wrinkled with worry and concern for his child, and flashed him a huge grin.

“That little man woke up in recovery, strong and smiling, telling me it’s going to be OK,” Craig Fiedor said. “Any surgery or anything, it was a mere couple hours and he was himself. … He took care of me.”

The local community has pulled through in various ways for Seth and his family throughout the years.

In 2013, he was among those who received an adaptive, three-wheeled bicycle from Pine-based Variety, the Children’s Charity at an event attended by Westmoreland County commissioners.

Prior to losing the ability to do so, “once he got his legs chugging, he would pedal away and just loved it,” Seth’s dad recalled.

In 2017, Habitat for Humanity Allegheny Valley raised money at the Pittsburgh Mills mall and its secondhand hardware store, ReStore in New Kensington, to renovate Nichole Fiedor’s house and make it more accessible.

Enduring spirit

Seth’s family members recall many happy memories in recent months.

A “reindeer ring toss” game proved popular this past Christmas, during which Seth and his brother and cousins donned inflatable antlers atop their heads.

Just a few weeks ago, his mother took Seth on a trip to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon.

“He was just in awe,” Nichole Fiedor said. “Even though he had some limitations, he still wanted to experience life to the fullest.”

Midday Tuesday, while at his Arnold home with his mother and brother, Seth’s home health care nurse suddenly shouted out that Seth had lost his pulse.

His older brother, Brandon, who recently turned 20, helped the nurse perform CPR on Seth, keeping him alive until medics arrived. New Kensington and Arnold police blocked off nearby streets, making sure intersections were clear so the ambulance could get to Allegheny Valley Hospital as fast as possible. From Harrison, Seth was flown by helicopter to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood.

Test results on late Friday indicated what his parents had feared most: that the latest incident was too much for Seth’s body to handle.

On Saturday, Seth’s grandparents and other family members arrived at Children’s Hospital to say their goodbyes.

Another motorcycle group paid a final tribute to Seth, heading out early Saturday from West Virginia and picking up more riders in Washington — but most opted for cars amid the rainy weather. Craig Fiedor wants to organize an annual ride event at Children’s Hospital for all the motorcycle-loving kids staying there, so long as he gets approval from hospital workers and officials.

Shortly after 5 p.m., Seth was declared brain dead.

The family made arrangements to donate Seth’s organs to anyone in need on transplant waiting lists.

“We’re donating as much as Seth can to help as many people as possible — organs, cornea, tissue, long bones,” Craig Fiedor said. “We want Seth to keep going on through others and improve their quality of life.”

Hundreds of messages continue to flood Craig Fiedor’s social media pages. He choked back tears as he reflected on his son’s enduring spirit and inspiration.

“He was just a ball of positive energy. He had an energy about him that drew people in,” Craig Fiedor said. “He’s had a full life in a short 17 years.”

How to help

The family of Seth Fiedor, who died Saturday at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh days after going into cardiac arrest, has set up a GoFundMe account to pay for medical and funeral expenses.

To donate, search for “Seth Fiedor Memorial Fund” at GoFundMe.com or click here.