While our family has always tried to focus on everything that Noah can do, there's no getting around the fact that there are many things he can't do. Some, like eating or running around with his friends, are things he used to be able to do. Others are things he's never been able to do.
God has been so good to Noah and has made many impossible dreams come true. The boy who would never be able to swim was able to ride a lazy river and briefly go in a pool with a life vest. The boy who would never walk again is taking a few steps. The boy who should be spending the overwhelming majority of his life in the hospital is living - truly living - almost every day at home.
There is one wish that has always eluded us no matter how hard we've tried. Ever since he was a toddler, Noah has wanted to ride a bike. It should be such a simple, normal rite of childhood, but Noah's never done it. His quest for bike riding has been a long saga of being in the wrong place in the wrong time . . .
. . . when he was a toddler and wanted to ride a trike, he was essentially living in the hospital and was terrified of the outside. An insect, the sway of leafy shadows, or a sunny breeze on his cheek frightened him terribly. We got him a ride-on toy for in the house, but it wasn't a bike.
. . . when he was a preschooler and had learned to love the outdoors, a terrible infection and battle with DIC left him unable to balance at all. He insisted that we buy him a bike helmet and he'd walk alongside David's outgrown tiny little bike while rolling it up and down our walkway. He always walked on the opposite side from where I was standing because he thought it made it look like he was riding the bike. I have many precious pictures and videos of him doing this as he beamed at me and called out, "Look! I'm riding it!"
. . . before we could figure out how to handle the balance issue we almost lost him to urosepsis. He recovered, but was no longer able to walk. Riding a bike was now officially out of the question.
He's never stopped wishing he could ride a bike. A year or so ago I briefly looked into the idea of an adaptive bike, but most weren't suitable and the prices were in the thousands of dollars. Jeff and I felt that this was one of those things that just could not possibly happen, so we went on encouraging Noah toward other goals.
The other day a FB friend sent me a link and asked me to vote for her child to win a bike. I happily clicked the link only to realize that this was a HUGE contest giving away a wide range of adaptive bikes. While the bike her son wanted would not work for Noah, I carefully looked over the features of the other bikes. I felt like one of them just might maybe work for Noah so I asked his P.T. to look it over - she gave a resounding "Go for it!!!" This is a bike that he could actually ride despite every one of his limitations.
It is, however, the longest of long shots. The contest has been going on for several days already and there are several children with over 3,000 votes. A bike will be given to the child with the most votes (they call them "nominations." On top of that, they are asking for donations to buy additional bikes which will be given in a random drawing. Children must have 50 votes to be considered for the drawing. Unfortunately this particular bike is extremely expensive and only 3 additional bikes have been funded at this point. It's also a very popular choice with many children in the running.
I always tend to have mixed feelings about this sort of thing, as I'd ultimately love to see each of these children win a bike. By the same token, I can't imagine how utterly amazing it would be for Noah to have a chance to finally ride a bike and honestly the only way this would happen is if he won the contest. The only possible way for Noah to win is if many people are willing to vigorously campaign for him on social media and/or within their real-life circle of influence. Even if every one of my FB friends voted, we'd come short. I can't do this alone. Can we do it together?
The link is https://www.friendshipcircle.org/bikes/2014/03/noah-5/?s .
*You could share this on FB and let others know how important it is that they share it as well as voting.
*You could share this with co-workers - maybe everyone in your office would vote.
*You could share this with your church, Sunday School class, homeschool co-op, etc.
*While you can only vote once per child, each family member 13 or older can vote, so you could ask everyone who votes to go home and have their spouse and children vote.
It's important to note that we are NOT telling Noah that he is entered into this contest unless he wins. I won't allow him to get his hopes up when this is such a very long shot, so please don't mention it to him if you see him!!!! This has been such a HUGE dream of his for so long . . .
**Edited to add: Some people have had a hard time voting. There is a large green "Nominate" box and toward the bottom of the box it says, "Click here to nominate." Just click those words. Nothing will appear to indicate that you voted. In other words, you won't get a "thanks for voting" message or anything but the vote does count!! :-) You might or might not see the vote count go up when you click. It seems to vary based on type of device.
Blessings,
Kate
