Children with special needs receive custom bikes
Specially-made bikes for 2 Calhoun children with special needs are presented to them and their families as a Valentine’s Day present.
Two children with special needs were presented with customized bikes on Valentine’s Day at Advance for Kids, where they were able to immediately start riding as friends, family and their AFK physical therapists watched on.
When 10-year-old Zachary Cagles, a student at W.L. Swain Elementary, was given his new Freedom Concepts custom-made bike on Thursday, his mom helped strap him in and ride around the parking lot. The bike was set up with “direct drive,” according to Freedom Concepts employee Jaydene Lowe, meaning as long as the bike is moving, the pedals will also be moving, which Lowe said teaches the children about what it takes to propel the bike.
Lowe, who is the southeast territory manager, said while the process of getting these bikes to the families is a bit convoluted, she always likes to be able to present the custom bikes to recipients.
“The bikes are not typically funded by traditional medical insurance so we partner with nonprofits to help families pay for them,” Lowe said, explaining
GIVEAWAY,
Andrews links up with different nonprofits and hosts fundraisers to cover the cost of bikes and help families get what they need to allow their children to be independent, Lowe said. For the two bikes presented on Thursday, a lawyer’s office in Atlanta donated money to Variety of Georgia, who then gave the money to Freedom Concepts to pay for the bikes.
“We’ve partnered with some great charities and they don’t make families jump through hoops and all that, it’s very unique,” said Lowe, who presents around 100 bikes a year for her specific region. “To be able to link the families with nonprofits we already partner with is great.”
Representatives from the Atlanta law firm, Attorney Niel Kopistky and Marketing Director Katie Schaff, were among those present on Thursday to see the two children receive their new bikes.
Isabella Funes, 6, who was the second to receive a custom bike on Thursday, has wanted a bike for a while and even asked for one this past Christmas. In her new pink bike that matched her sweatshirt, Isabella was excited to ride around the AFK exercise room as her parents and AFK therapists watched on.
“I can cry just because we’ve been waiting a while to give her something like this,” Isabella’s mother, Marie Funes, said. “She sees other kids riding bikes, so yes, I’m really excited. We are very blessed to be able to get this.”
Similar to the Funes family, Zachary’s mother was glad her son could receive a bike specific to his needs, as the Cagles had been waiting for almost two years to receive funding for a bike.
“At school, Barbara gets him on a bike and she sends me pictures, he really enjoys it,” Zachary’s mother, Bridget Cagle, said. “I’m so thankful for everyone who helped him get it. Without them, he wouldn’t have been able to get a bike.”
Barbara Marvel, who works as a physical therapist for Gordon County Schools, Calhoun City Schools and Bartow County Schools, has been a pediatric therapist for the past 28 years. Marvel said over time, as the field has learned more about how each child is unique, education has become more individualized.
“A lot of our forte is adaptive equipment, bath seats, wheelchairs … you always have to look ahead,” Marvel said. “It’s everchanging and we never stop learning more and more about children and diagnoses and strategies to make them functional.”
Mai Lee Payne, the owner of AFK in both Rome and Calhoun, said these bikes — which are estimated to cost anywhere from $ 3,000$ 5,000 — offer children a sense of independence and freedom.
Payne said it’s a therapist’s job to understand the skills and strengths of their kids and identify the equipment needed to help them thrive. She said these bikes are helpful to get children active, moving and doing something different.
As someone who has worked as a physical, occupational and speech- language therapist for the past 15 years since opening AFK’s two locations, Payne said she finds a lot of joy in being able to see kids get their own bikes.
“We know they’re so capable of so much if they could just have the right equipment, the right situation and the right environment,” Payne said. “That’s our job as therapists, to make them as independent as possible and so when we can see that, it’s a really big deal.”