photo by Helen R. Hammond

Shown from left: Lucy Oxford, Cate Oxford, Elizabeth Carpenter, Jack Oxford, Harry Walker and Edwin Carpenter are shown outside of the Oxford's Snee Farm home. Cate Oxford and Elizabeth Carpenter (Shown on bikes) will be participating in the Lose the Training Wheels Bicycle Camp For Children with Special Needs at the end of this month.

image provided

For Christina Oxford, mother of 8-year-old Cate Oxford, the concept of riding a bike is a topic of frustration. Oxford and her family have been trying for years to teach Cate how to ride a bike. Cate falls into the statistic that only 10 percent of children with Down Syndrome will ever learn to ride a bike.

"Cate's inability to ride a bike has impacted her and our family. She has missed opportunities to participate with friends and our family has also not been able to take bike rides together," explained Oxford.

Cate, the youngest of three, will be in the second-grade at Belle Hall Elementary. Oxford explained that they worked years to get Cate to walk and now by Cate not being able to ride a bike, she is again separated from her family and friends.

The Oxford family, strongly involved with the Down Syndrome Association of the Lowcountry (DSAL), started talking to another family, the Carpenters, who were also involved with the organization.

Gene Carpenter, mother of 10-year-old Elizabeth, explained that her daughter walked on time but cannot ride a bike without training wheels.

Carpenter said that her son Edmund and her husband go on bike rides while she and Elizabeth stay home.

Other benefits include getting exercise and later in life, bike-riding is a means of transportation.

"All they [children with disabilities] want is to be included and have friends. If we could give them one more opportunity, then we should do what it takes," said Carpenter.

Mothers Christina and Gene exchanged what Christina calls "impassioned e-mails" about what they could do to give their daughters a bike-riding opportunity.

They discovered The Lose The Training Wheels bike program, a camp with an 85 percent success rate of teaching kids with disabilities how to ride a bike in only five days. The camp, which sets up camps all over the country, will help teach up to 40 children with special needs how to ride a conventional bike without training wheels. The camp provides specialized bicycle riding equipment developed by Rainbow Trainers, Inc., as well as a team of experts and volunteers. Each child attends one 75-minute session per day for five consecutive days. And there is plenty of help as one or two volunteers assist the trainers with each child. Down Syndrome Association of the Lowcountry will be bringing the camp to Charleston to give children like Cate and Elizabeth an opportunity to ride a bike independently. The camp takes place July 26 - 30. There are five sessions and the first one starts at 8:30 a.m. and the last one ends at 3:15 p.m. Carpenter said that they were fortunate enough to have the venue, North Charleston Convention Center, donate the space. Registration fee is $175 and DSAL is underwriting a majority of the costs. The Lowcountry Buddy Walk, which is always the first Sunday in October, is the only fundraiser that DSAL has and Carpenter explained that the Lowcountry Buddy Walk funds all programs such as the Lose the Training Wheels Bicycle Camp, social activities, teacher training, summer programs and Buddy Camp. A few spots are left for campers and volunteers are needed. Contact camp coordinator Gene Carpenter at gpc123@comcast.net for information. Visit the Lose the Training Wheels Program web page at www.losethetrainingwheels.org. "This is going to be amazing for all of our kids and adults who have struggled for years to learn this skill," Oxford said.

(Helen R. Hammond can be reached at helen@moultrienews.com.)