Double amputee thrilled with gift of new scooter

PRINCE ALBERT A woman who lost both her legs after she was brutally beaten and set on fire is once again on the move, thanks to the generosity of people in Saskatchewan.

“Now I can walk ... Pretend I have legs,” Marlene Bird said on Tuesday after she was presented with a gently used motorized scooter at Prince Albert’s Indian and Metis Friendship Centre.

Bird was living on the streets of Prince Albert when she was attacked in June 2014. She adapted to getting around in either a wheelchair or motorized scooter, but her mobility took a hit this summer when her scooter was stolen from her Timber Bay home.

Her story tugged at the heartstrings of Trisha Mills, a Saskatoon woman who also had a motorized scooter stolen this summer. After Mills’ story was shared with the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, donations poured in and Mills ended up with two extra scooters.

One went to a Saskatoon man who was the victim of a random attack this summer and Mills wanted the second chair to go to Bird, but didn’t know how to get it to her. She and Bird both struggle to get around and Bird has no fixed address.

Again, Saskatchewan residents came to her aid after she shared her story with The StarPhoenix. More than a dozen people and companies contacted the newspaper offering to get the chair to Bird, including the RCMP, who drove the scooter up north and stored it until Bird could come to the Friendship Centre.

Mills also travelled to Prince Albert to meet Bird. She said the whole experience left her “overwhelmed with the generosity of people.”

“I am over the moon,” Mills said after the chair was given to Bird. “It’s been an emotional rollercoaster ever since I lost my wheelchair. But I’ve noticed what good and generous people we have in Saskatchewan.”

Bird said the new scooter is far more than she was hoping for.

“I expected a really little tiny one, but this is a four-by-four,” she said.

ARTHUR WHITE-CRUMMEY Tricia Mills gives double-amputee Marlene Bird a hug and a kiss in Prince Albert on Tuesday after giving her a donated scooter that came from ‘generous people’ in the province. “Now I can walk ... pretend I have legs,” said Bird, whose old scooter was...

ARTHUR WHITE-CRUMMEY Tricia Mills, left, travelled to Prince Albert on Tuesday to personally hand over a new, gently used scooter to Marlene Bird, who lost her legs after being beaten and burned in 2014.