'She's My Why': LI Man Leads Stroke Prevention Fundraising Effort In Honor Of His Mother

MASSAPEQUA, NY. — Massapequa native Keith Piro wasn’t always a fundraiser for the American Stroke Association; in fact, he has spent his career in commercial real estate, briefly moving to Queens for ease of commute before returning to Long Island.

For the past three years, however, Keith has been participating in the American Heart Association’s New York City Wall Street Run & Heart Walk, and CycleNation. The walk takes place in May, while CycleNation will take place Mar. 12 at Terminal Warehouse in Manhattan.

For CycleNation participants, Piro said the day is a SoulCycle-inspired event offered as a fundraiser. It’s also a precursor to the run and walk, focusing more specifically on one specific condition that can occur as a result of poor cardiovascular health: Strokes.

For Piro, director of Workplace Experience at commercial real estate company JLL, the connection to stroke awareness became a lot more immediate in the first week of 2020, when his mother suffered a series of mini strokes just days after celebrating the new year.

“I spent the new year in Philadelphia with some friends, and I went to call my mom to say hello and let her know I was home, and my dad picked up. [He] said we had thought that she was just dehydrated…because that's happened in the past.”

When they arrived to the hospital, however, Piro said it was a frightening scene.

“The lights were on but nobody was home, and it was extremely scary. I'm, like, yelling at the nurse, ‘What's going on?’ The nurse obviously says, ‘You're going to have to talk to the doctors. We think she's having a stroke.’” Piro said. “We get upstairs, the doctor comes over right away with the nurse assistant and they said, ‘This is serious. we're going to have to put her on a ventilator. She's having a series of mini strokes, and if we don't do something now, if we don't act now, this could be really serious.' So, the emotions just overtake you.”

While the stint on the ventilator was a scary, emotional time for Piro and his parents — the Plainedge High School graduate is an only child — he said his mom was able to make a full recovery mentally.

“She was on a ventilator for four nights. So, those were the scariest days of my entire life, just the fear of the unknown, and you just had to nurture the hope,” Piro said. “But my mom is resilient and she is one strong person. She pulled out, she's fighting to this day. Mentally, thank God, she's with us 100 percenr. Physically, it did take a toll on her body. since that day, we've had to have some aides come to the house and she's in a wheelchair. She has trouble walking and has trouble raising — the stroke happened on her left side, so it impacted the right side of her body — so she has trouble raising her arm, but we do what we can and we're just so blessed that she's still with us.”

With that harrowing couple of days in mind, Piro said he started fundraising with the American Stroke Association, a subsidiary of the American Heart Association that focuses on strokes. While CycleNation wasn’t offered in 2020, 2021 or 2022 on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, Piro said he got involved as soon as it was offered again.

“I've been involved with the CycleNation event since they brought it back post pandemic, this will be the third year that they brought it back. So the first year I did it, it was kind of just a fun event that I wanted to go to because of my mom. That's my purpose, she's my ‘why.’” Piro said. “But then, when I saw just how much impact the American Stroke Association has and the event had last year, we really leaned in. And I got a lot of support from my company, JLL, and a lot of help with raising funds and bikes and participation.”

Keith Piro, riding in a CycleNation event with his own world heavyweight championship belt.

When asked what kept him coming back to CycleNation, Piro said it was simple.

“This is an incredible event that benefits the American Stroke Association. And it really helps to raise awareness not only for stroke prevention but stroke awareness and really helps all the funds that will go to the cause of hopefully preventing strokes further down the line too for people as well,” Piro said.

The JLL executive said the company has become the top fundraiser at CycleNation, raising more than $100,000 last year and already surpassing that goal again this year. The company will also be represented by five or six cyclists, Piro said.

Those fundraising efforts haven’t gone unnoticed, either. Piro was asked to co-chair the CycleNation event this year, sitting on a leadership team that makes use of what Piro called his “hospitality mindset.” While some might take a breather after a couple of years of raising funds for stroke prevention and awareness, the Massapequa native said that’s not really his style.

“I'm never one in my personal professional life to just rest on my laurels,” Piro said. “So…this has been a journey now for a year in planning. As soon as the last cycle nation event ended, pretty much the day after, you start thinking what's next, and how we do do the next year. It's been a collective commitment.”

For anyone looking to get involved in CycleNation or any of the AHA's events, information on how to do so can be found at www.heart.org or by contacting the American Heart Association at 212-878-5900.