This fundraising is for a young girl Arya for her own adaptive racing trike. Arya suffered severe brain injury during birth and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She is nonverbal and has severe physical disability. After discovering her medical condition a few days after birth in the NICU her neurologist said, "I have never seen such widespread brain damage and not sure how functioning this girl would be." Since then, with sheer determination Arya has been proving the statement wrong and growing up in her own way. She puts in hard work in her therapies and has come a long way over the years. We used to take her therapy trike and go outside for a stroll, and she would just want to keep going, 1 mile then 2 miles and so on. We borrowed a racing trike and participated in road races and completed two half marathons. We would like to give Arya her own customized racing trike that will suit her needs.

Trike gives Arya the freedom of motion that she usually doesn't have. We don't realize how important it is to have the freedom to go from point A to point B for a person with mobility impairment. Trike is therapeutic and helps build strength in her legs which will help her overall quest to be able to walk or improve the quality of life. Having to participate in the road races gives her the sense of inclusiveness in the society (like she is participating in a race with everyone else). When I see Arya on her trike, I see the glow of freedom in her eyes just like a bird with wings who has freedom to explore the wide-open sky and feel like her disability disappeared. Arya completed two half marathons and she has a huge potential to become a para-athlete and compete in the long distance road races. This is an area we think Arya can have a career in the future.

Every person with a disability is unique with their unique needs. Arya can't use one hand (right) effectively due to spasticity in the muscles of her right arm and she operates her trike with one hand (left) only. So the trike needs to be customized for her needs. She needs to have control and braking in the same arm and few modifications to enable her to be able to operate the trike independently. We tried a lot of different options and borrowed a trike from the equipment loaner program of the Shriners hospital at Portland, OR and finally came to a decision that a trike from Hase Bikes will work for her. We borrowed a similar one but need some modification to accommodate Arya's needs. This device is not covered by insurance that's why we are opening up this fund-raising page. We believe, with the right racing trike Arya will continue to flourish to become a para-athlete and she wants to compete in the long distance road races and make an identity of her own.

I'MPossible Team's Facebook Page : this is to document Arya's journey.

Video of Arya crossing the finish line in the Eugene Half Marathon in April, 2023

After one of the practice sessions

Somewhere on the course during the Eugene half marathon, 2023

Close to the finish line in the Eugene Half marathon in the Hayward stadium. Crowds in the stadium was cheering for Arya so loudly. Arya looking at them with a big smile. This is a feeling of freedom, Joy, accomplishment mixed.

Somewhere on the course of the Portland Half marathon, 2022.

The emotional moment after crossing the finish line in the Portland Marathon (half), 2022. We didn't know we could do it.

"Thank you for reading my story and supporting me to get my adaptive trike." Arya