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Please help us purchase Christian an adapted bike
We are the parents of a gregarious, extroverted 13-year old boy named Christian who has Cerebral Palsy. For a project at school, he was asked if this held him back at all. He replied, "No, I really don't notice it that much."
We like to think he says that because we help him get involved in activities such as swimming, ice skating, singing in the choir, and bike riding. We are raising money to purchase him a larger adapted bicycle so he can continue to enjoy this outdoor activity with us.
Here is a link to the bike we will purchase if GoFundMe is a success.
When he was about five-years old, a friend of ours sold us their Freedom Concepts adapted bicycle, which their son had outgrown. That's the bike in the picture. We successfully denied he was getting too big for it until he nearly flipped it over backwards one day. My husband says it's something about center of gravity or weight distribution but I say the kid is just growing too darn tall! (He tells me he's not able to stop growing. You believe that?! )
For the last eight years, Christian has enjoyed the independence of riding that bike around the cul-de-sac all by himself.
(Don't worry, we spy on him from a safe distance)
He rides up to neighbors who might be doing yard work and chats with them as though he is running for political office. Perhaps Mayor of the cul-de-sac. We've even loaded that bike into our mini-van and so he could ride on paved paths at local parks with us roller-blading alongside him. Very cool to be out in the world as a family pretending it's an everyday occurrence to see a mom skating behind her 5 to 13 year-old son on his three-wheeled adapted bike. It's a real conversation starter.
Today, Christian is about five feet tall and 95 pounds. We can't help him participate in as many physcially demanding activities as we could when he was smaller. One of the main challenges we face is finding activities that get him out of his wheelchair and provide some movement in a way that is fun for him and manageable for us. Bike riding is the perfect solution. Ideally, we'd like to purchase him this bike within 4-6 weeks. In time for spring/summer bike riding season.
The support we receive from this effort will be a welcome blessing to everyone in our family.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Kim Hedzik and Paul Valcheff
We are the parents of a gregarious, extroverted 13-year old boy named Christian who has Cerebral Palsy. For a project at school, he was asked if this held him back at all. He replied, "No, I really don't notice it that much."
We like to think he says that because we help him get involved in activities such as swimming, ice skating, singing in the choir, and bike riding. We are raising money to purchase him a larger adapted bicycle so he can continue to enjoy this outdoor activity with us.
Here is a link to the bike we will purchase if GoFundMe is a success.
When he was about five-years old, a friend of ours sold us their Freedom Concepts adapted bicycle, which their son had outgrown. That's the bike in the picture. We successfully denied he was getting too big for it until he nearly flipped it over backwards one day. My husband says it's something about center of gravity or weight distribution but I say the kid is just growing too darn tall! (He tells me he's not able to stop growing. You believe that?! )
For the last eight years, Christian has enjoyed the independence of riding that bike around the cul-de-sac all by himself.
(Don't worry, we spy on him from a safe distance)
He rides up to neighbors who might be doing yard work and chats with them as though he is running for political office. Perhaps Mayor of the cul-de-sac. We've even loaded that bike into our mini-van and so he could ride on paved paths at local parks with us roller-blading alongside him. Very cool to be out in the world as a family pretending it's an everyday occurrence to see a mom skating behind her 5 to 13 year-old son on his three-wheeled adapted bike. It's a real conversation starter.
Today, Christian is about five feet tall and 95 pounds. We can't help him participate in as many physcially demanding activities as we could when he was smaller. One of the main challenges we face is finding activities that get him out of his wheelchair and provide some movement in a way that is fun for him and manageable for us. Bike riding is the perfect solution. Ideally, we'd like to purchase him this bike within 4-6 weeks. In time for spring/summer bike riding season.
The support we receive from this effort will be a welcome blessing to everyone in our family.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Kim Hedzik and Paul Valcheff