To qualify as a dialysis passenger for our rally:

• Must currently be receiving hemodiaylsis treatment.
• You must be a motorcycle enthusiast. We understand if you no longer ride because of your medical condition. A past picture of you on a motorcycle or copy of an old motorcycle registration card with your name on it may be required.
• If you have not, nor have ever been, a motorcycle enthusiasts: You must have a friend or relative that is and they must provide the same proof as above.
• If you meet the above qualifications, you must call us by phone at

Call 1-800-444-8795 to register as a dialysis patient.

If accepted as patient HOHS Dialysis fund will pay :

• Each patient's dialysis treatments, which are $ 550.00 per treatment. An average of $ 1,650.00 per patient per week.
• Each dialysis patient's half of a E1 deluxe category balcony stateroom Average price is $1,300.00 in the Caribbean or equivalent amount toward another cabin category of your choice. Balcony cabin pricing may very depending on the HOHS rally you are attending.
• Dialysis patient's airfare if flying, from anywhere within the continental U.S. and Canada.
• Medical staff and equipment, which costs $10,000.
• Shore Excursion expenses. The HOHS Dialysis fund will also pay $400.00 toward shore excursions of your choice. To be posted to your ship board account.

That's an average of over $ 4,050.00 per patient to insure you have a Vacation of a lifetime.

If accepted as patient you will be responsible for the following:

• Each Dialysis patient is responsible for a second person (caregiver) in the cabin at an average cost of $ 1,300.00
• Travel and trip cancellation insurance Average cost of $130.00
• Transportation cost to the ship for the second person in your cabin.

Dialysis Patients Notice

• You must book your cruise through Hogs on the High Seas,
• Treatment and medical information will be done in conjunction with Dialysis at Sea for more information check out their website. www.dialysisatsea.com

Ticket number # 572 was the winning ticket for the Raffle Bike

The Winner was Bruce Wakefield from Medford, NY!!

(Click photo to get a better look)

2006 Alaska Grand Prize Bike winners Martha & Dick Rychener Donate motorcycle back to the HOHS Dialysis fund

During our recent Alaska rally the winners of the gorgeous $30,000 Giveaway bike - Martha & Dick Rychener of Smyrna, TN have donated the bike back for us to raffle it off and all proceeds will go to the HOHS dialysis fund. The drawing will be on our 5th Anniversary Caribbean rally November 4-11, 2007. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!

Click here to see this bike featured in Hot Bike Magazine Issue May 2007 So if you have the winning ticket, your bike has already been featured in a magazine, and by the way we have an extra copy for you.

There are hundreds of charities worthy of donating your time, effort and money to. We knew from the beginning with other major charities, that our small financial contributions would be absorbed in the cost of bookkeeping, staff, and daily operations of a large charity organization. We realized we cannot cure a long standing disease or medical condition. So we wanted to choose a charity that has received very little attention for funding or medical advances. We also wanted to see fast results, and wanted our passengers contributing the funds to see those results. The key word is SEE. We decided on Kidney dialysis patients for several reasons. Unlike other disease's, there is NO cure for kidney failure, unless you receive that rare perfect donated kidney. There is not as much as a pill or medication to cure or slow this medical situation. Medical science's answer has been the same for decades. To prolong the patient's life a few more years by tethering the patient to a machine that cleans the entire blood supply every 2 to 3 days. Dialysis also robs them of their strength and finances, much like cancer. However, due to the advances in modern medicine, most diseases patients often have good and bad days, cycles of treatment that allows the hope and possibility of a cure and the opportunity to travel to see friends and relatives via medication.

A dialysis patient must visit the dialysis machine every 2 to 3 days just to stay alive, and knows what the end result will be. This restraint leaves them very little or no opportunity to travel and comes at a time when most terminal patients want to travel, see the world, and visit with family and friends. Kidney dialysis patients are also generally in the average age group of our rally participants which makes it easy to relate to their situation and easy for them to socialize with us at our rallies.

Our goal was to provide an opportunity for Motorcycle enthusiasts or their friends on dialysis to attend our HOHS rallies. Giving them the chance to travel, spend some valuable rehab time socializing with a couple thousand new friends and hopefully having the time of their lives. The only medical treatment anyone currently can offer.

Therefore, when we discovered there were a few medical companies that provided kidney dialysis aboard cruise ships. We began our research. We quickly found that medical expenses whether at sea or land is costly. To the tune of $10,000 to contract the services of Dialysis at Sea, the medical company we chose to provide the Dialysis services to our HOHS Rally Passengers. Due to the fact that the ships infirmary has to be shared with the dialysis staff and medical equipment, the current maximum number of patients that can be treated is 14. The good news is it could and was being done on a few select ships that contracted the service.

We announced our charity idea at our 1st Annual Hogs on the High Seas Rally in 2003. Response was overwhelming. With 805 rally participants contributing $8,270.00 to help meet the contracted price. This pays just for the service, it does not pay for the treatments which costs $ 495.00 per visit. Usually 3 per week. Most medical insurance companies will reimburse the dialysis patient after the cruise, but the patient has to pay upfront for the total cost of the treatments alone over $ 1,550.00. However, we were stunned to discover that uninsured military vets and Medicare patients didn't qualify for re-imbursement through the Veterans Administration or Medicare for receiving the very same treatments they would have received at their home dialysis treatment centers.

At our 2004 rally, we are proud to announce that our 1367 rally participants have contributed $31,771.00. Enough to pay for the dialysis staff, equipment rental, etc, ($10,000) plus treatments for all 14 dialysis patients if needed. No more insurance issues for those that aren't covered!  We wish to thank all those that participated in our 2004 HOHS event that helped make this possible.

By the way, there is no-one at our rally collecting or asking for money for this charity. The money comes from a percentage of the money collected from our games, such as the Poker Walk, 50/50 and Biker Bingo. So have fun, join in the games, win prizes and give dialysis patients a vacation of a lifetime.

However, there's more work to be done. As with most serious prolonged medical conditions, finances can be strained to poverty levels. Even though we have eliminated the medical cost of the rally and made it possible for them to attend it is still beyond some passenger's financial means even to purchase a cabin. Dialysis patients also have travel time restraints to reach the ship before their next treatment is needed. Driving for more than 1-2 days is prohibited due to their medical condition.

In 2005 our Alaska rally passengers donated over $16,000 to our Dialysis fund and our Western Caribbean passengers donated over $68,000 toward helping make our Dialysis patients vacations a reality.

With the completion of our Alaska 2006 Rally our rally passengers donated another $ 18,084.82 to our fund for our 2007 patients

Even more benefits for our 2007 dialysis patients. Thanks to 1500, 2006 HOHS rally passengers entering the games and most generously donating back a portion of there cash winnings, we raised over $110,000 for the kidney dialysis fund. That money will be used in 2007 to possibably upgrade the dialysis treatment area from the ships medical facility in the bottom of the ship to a balcony room in the upper decks, if we have more than 14 patients and need another treatment room. We always encourage our HOHS Rally passengers can stop by and provide company to our Dialysis patients. It helps the passengers get a better understanding of what is involved and helps the patient get through the long hours of treatment. We may also use the money to pay for their companions half of the room cost, depending on the financial needs of the patients.

2007 Caribbean Rally Update: WIth nearly 1,750 rally passengers aboard our 5th Anniversary Cruise, we raised a phenomenal $182,895 for the Kidney Dialysis Fund from Polker Walk, 50/50, Tattoo Contest, (10) Raffle Cabins, HOHS Auction, Bike Raffle, and generous cash winners that gave money back. That's an average of over $100 per passenger. This was all raised from games, raffles, auctions, and donations from passenger cash winnings. It also doesn't hurt that during those events our passengers had great odds of winning over $302,000 in cash and prizes but it is very important to us that they see just exactly where the money is going. Since we are adding a 2nd rally to our yearly schedule, this was exactly what we needed because it costs approximately $60,000 to provide this service to another 14 dialysis patients during the additional rally. Doing good can be contagious, especially if you get to see the good it does and have FUN doing it!

We would also like to note that scores of cancer & other medical condition patients attend our rallies each year for rehab, and for some as their last Rally Of A Lifetime. We have thoroughly enjoyed each and everyone, and will sadly miss the ones that are unable to return.

Want to help with our HOHS Dialysis Fund Charity, just register for our rally, and get a friend to register with you. Have the time of your life while making a dream come true for a dialysis patient.