Walk-A-Thon Honors Legacy Of South OC Boy And Heroes Like Him

COTO DE CAZA, CA — The living legacy of a "beautiful, shiny, amazing" Coto de Caza boy will be celebrated for a third year in a row during a community walk-a-thon dubbed Bradley's Honor Walk this Sunday, April 27.

The community event is held every year by the Bradley Rofer Foundation since its conception in 2022, celebrating the life and legacy of an upstanding 8-year-old boy who died unexpectedly that same year.

Bradley Rofer was struck by a vehicle while riding his bike across an intersection just a short distance from his Coto de Caza home in September 2022.

He passed just days shy of his 9th birthday, and his mom — Josette Rofer — still remembers him every day.

The 'After'

Josette keeps a large photograph of Bradley resting against the wall of the couple's bedroom, his face smiling. Just outside the Rofer home in Coto de Caza, an array of colorful stones adorn the entry-point of the property — phrases like "Bradley #19," "Be Like Bradley" and "Love," as well as brightly-colored hearts, painted baseballs, flowers and suns — can be found simply by looking down.

The stones, Josette told Patch, were painted by members of the community shortly after Bradley's passing. The 8-year-old Wagon Wheel Elementary School student was already well-known in his community by the time of his death.

"There's not a lot of kids like that," Josette said.

It's true. At just six-years-old, Bradley Rofer founded a successful flower business, Bradley's Beautiful Bouquets. With the profits he earned, Bradley raised more than $3,000 for sick children in the community.

But that's not the end of it. Bradley had a deep love for life, along with his parents, Aron and Josette, and his little brother Connor. He liked soccer, but he loved baseball and trained exhaustively to be a catcher, like his dad.

"One of the things that really sucks is not knowing who he would have been," Josette said.

He was also a gifted musician and played piano beautifully, his favorite song to play being "Memories" by Maroon 5, Josette said. He had read the entirety of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and was halfway through the second one at the time of his passing.

"He was an old soul. He had that thing where he knew that he was in a race with himself, you know? He didn’t care about beating the other people around him," Josette said. "He had the passion that he wanted to do better, and he was constantly growing at such a phenomenal speed because he wanted it."

Like many kids, he loved Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft. Unlike many kids, Josette said, Bradley had a deep fascination with wires from when he was 2-years-old.

"Maybe he would have been an electrical engineer. He loved wires. I know, wires, yeah — wires, plugs... He was interesting," Josette laughed. "When we moved here [over seven years ago], and I hooked up our lights, he would be outside, and he would see me slicing the wires. He was so interested."

Josette noted that Bradley loved watching her slice wires, and had displayed a deep interest in wires, cords and charges from a young age. When Bradley asked his mom if he could help slice the wires and she responded "no," he took her wire-cutter and threw it over the fence.

"It really shocked me," Josette admitted, laughing now. "But he really wanted to do it."

A Helping Hand For South OC Kids

The Bradley Rofer Foundation is led by Bradley's parents, Josette and Aron, who work with volunteers to raise funds and organize events for sick children in Orange County.

Since its start, the foundation has supported countless local children through the initiatives by way of financial aid and community events. According to Josette, the nonprofit prioritizes community support and impact inspired by Bradley's legacy of love, empathy and understanding.

Josette has been putting work into the foundation since its start shortly after Bradley's death. She credits her son with making the nonprofit happen.

"I would not be able to do this alone — this is Bradley's spirit, and so many times that I come up against the wall — when I need a sponsor, or I need this, or I need that, Bradley just… opens the door, he makes it happen," Josette said. "I mean, don’t get me wrong — it’s a lot of work running this foundation, but some of the hardest things have been so easy that it just feels right."

#BeingLikeBradley

The 2025 Bradley's Honor Walk is just one of those means of encouraging community support and impact in south Orange County, Josette said.

The walk-a-thon will celebrate both the legacy of Bradley Rofer and 19 local children suffering from various illnesses that the foundation has helped, dubbed "Bradley's Brave Bunch."

Grant recipients will receive $1,919 checks, courtesy of the foundations efforts to provide relief for local families in need.

"An Honor Walk takes place when a donor patient, who is on life support, is transferred from their hospital room to the operating room for transplant surgery," Aron Rofer wrote on the foundation's website.

"On Sept. 5, 2022, hundreds of nurses and doctors and hospital workers quietly lined up shoulder-to-shoulder along the hallways throughout Mission Hospital as Josette and I wheeled our baby boy from his room in the pediatric intensive care unit down to the operating room," He wrote.

Bradley's Honor Walk is intended to honor not only Bradley, but organ donors like him.

The event will feature a "Memory Wall" of children — young, never born, or adult, who passed away too soon.

In addition, several grant recipients will be celebrated, including a kid named Jesse, from Huntington Beach, who survived a horrific bike accident.

Two Aliso Niguel High School students will also be honored at the event with a "Hero Award" for saving the life of a young girl by pulling her out of a burning car.

The 2025 Bradley's Honor Walk takes place at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 27 at Rancho Santa Margarita Lake.

Residents can sign up for the 2025 Bradley's Honor Walk, free of charge, by registering via EventBrite.

Those interested in volunteering or donating funds to the nonprofit's efforts in helping sick children in south Orange County can visit the foundation's website.