Variety the Children\u2019s Charity<\/a>, bike-riding wouldn\u2019t even be possible.<\/p>\n\u201cI can\u2019t even explain how fulfilling it is as a mom to be able to watch my kid do something that I never thought she\u2019d be able to do,\u201d says Maeve\u2019s mother, Jessica Parkinson.<\/p>\n
Maeve\u2019s joy riding the bike spreads to everyone around her, including her parents, Jessica and Rich, and her 5-year-old sister Nora, who says she loves when Maeve waves her arms while she\u2019s riding the bike because \u201cshe thinks it\u2019s a roller coaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaeve has a smile that just lights up your world, and watching her ride that bike, sitting that stroller on our way home, seeing her smile, doing arms up-it\u2019s just, it\u2019s amazing,\u201d Maeve\u2019s dad, Rich Parkinson, says.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The adaptive stroller from Variety helps the family go places like Kennywood and safely walk home from school. You can\u2019t buy this type of stroller in a store for older kids and teenagers. The Parkinsons simply call it Maeve\u2019s \u201cchair.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to keep up with her is a challenge sometimes,\u201d Rich says. \u201cWe had several times where she tried to run out into the street, or she just got a little too far from me for safety reasons. And now we can just, we put her in her chair, and we just enjoy a nice walk home, and she loves it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maeve has Lamb-Shaffer syndrome, a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder. She\u2019s nonverbal, but can use a communication device to speak for her. Maeve pushes a button with the pictures and words for what she wants to say, and the iPad says it for her. These devices are another item that Variety supplies to families in the Pittsburgh region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she couldn\u2019t get her point across to us, it makes you almost feel like a failure as a parent. And the fact now that she can tell me, it\u2019s just wonderful,\u201d Rich says.<\/p>\n
Many kids who are nonverbal use the device at school but don\u2019t have one at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time that she said \u2018Mom\u2019 was right when she turned 6 years old, and it was the first time I ever heard her say it, and it was coincidentally on Christmas, which was like the best gift I ever got,\u201d Jessica said.<\/p>\n
The Parkinson family fun is contagious. Variety CEO Tom Baker and I had the chance to join in the play and saw how the adaptive equipment distributed at the presentations helps build the ties that bond a family.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou come to a presentation day, you see children whose lives are changed. You see family members whose lives are changed. You also see donors and community partners whose lives are changed because they\u2019re part of something,\u201d Baker said. \u201cThey know that later that night, later that weekend, the wonderful children that they\u2019ve helped support through the bike or stroller are going to be out there in the world experiencing life to the fullest.\u201d<\/p>\n
The equipment from Variety helps families who are facing a lot of challenges experience the joys of childhood, including riding a bike, going to a theme park and hearing the words \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaeve doesn\u2019t understand that she\u2019s any different from any other kid, so this way, we don\u2019t even have to make her feel different,\u201d Jessica says. \u201cGetting to be able to watch her be a kid is what I want as a mom, more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every bike is made for each individual child\u2019s needs depending on their disability. Each bike costs $2,500. The adaptive strollers are $2,000, and the communication device is $1,200, but all of that is at no cost to the families who get them.<\/p>\n
Many more families qualify than think they will. To see if Variety can help you, visit their website right here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Variety the Children\u2019s Charity gave away its 10,000th piece of adaptive equipment, which comes at no cost to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74,121644],"class_list":["post-293653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-variety-the-childrens-charity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}