Patrick (Paddy to all who know and love him!) is 13 years old. He’s an amazing, happy, energetic boy who is much loved by his family and his very popular amongst his friends.

Paddy also has Down Syndrome.

The youngest of four children, Paddy started secondary school this year and is loving it. Recently a letter came home from school regarding Bike Education.

As his mum Mandy told us “I read the letter to him and he looked at me concerned  – “I can’t do it Mum, I don’t have a bike” “.  I felt dreadful, not only did he not have a bike, he didn’t know how to ride one.  I had attempted funding years back but was met with red tape, phone calls not returned…..I eventually gave up, feeling tired and disheartened”.

Paddy’s hardworking and dedicated parents have been going through very difficult financial times in recent years, with Mum and Dad working harder than ever to help support their family.

Paddy’s Physiotherapist Jennifer says “He just loves the idea of being able to ride a bike on the footpath like other children in his local street. As a young child Patrick learnt to ride a tricycle at early intervention and did so for many years with confidence.  Since out growing the bike Patrick has not accessed a replacement bike and is desperate to be able to ride a “normal bike“.  At the beginning of this year, when he started secondary school, Patrick was extremey keen to participate in bike ed. He quickly realized he didn’t have his own bike and believed he would not be able to participate.  The school has bikes they use for bike ed but this is never going to substitute for the bike at home that Patrick so desperately wants.”

After a significant amount of research into different bikes, it’s been decided that a regular bike will do the trick – with the addition of some specialised training wheels from Achievable Concepts. These training wheels can be fitted onto basically any bike and they can be adjusted as Patrick’s skill improves.  Eventually he would be able to ride a bike with no training wheels at all… how good is that??!!

After speaking with the family, we also wanted to provide some specialised swimming lessons for Paddy, as they try to spend a week or 2 camping on the Murray River each year and Mum and Dad want to make sure he’s safe while not getting in the way of him joining in normal teenage activities with his friends.

Bike: $720, Stabilizer wheel kit: $290, specialised swimming lessons:  $500 = $1510.

Paddy’s Appeal took just one week before all the funds were raised – have fun Paddy!