LUBBOCK, Texas – Several weeks ago, 11-year-old Jude Porras had his special needs tricycle stolen. It was the only bike he felt comfortable to ride, leaving him devastated when it was gone.
“He went looking for it, he went looking behind the driveway, he went looking behind the tree like it broke my heart because he was so sad. He just wanted to ride it and so he goes bike stolen, bike stolen, and he gets all sad about it,” said Roxann Martinez, Jude’s mom.
Jude has autism and finds comfort in riding around his neighborhood on a daily basis. So, when AMBUCS heard Jude’s story, they knew they had to help.
“My son Josh, who is a member, sent me a text and said ‘dad, you’re not going to believe what happened.’ And I saw the text and it just tore me up, an eleven-year-old who has autism, depends on his trike for his mobility. That’s what we’re all about, it tore me up. I immediately reached out to our Ambility team, and I said, ‘Do we have a track that would fit this child?’ said Bobby Sanders, President of Lubbock Monterey AMBUCS.
Lubbock Caprock and Monterey AMBUCS teamed up to create the perfect tricycle for Jude’s needs.
“You’ll see there’s an upper body harness to hold him in place where he won’t swing from side to side and then it has a safety belt, and then it has an adjustable seat rod to where the entire seat can be forwarded. As he gets taller, the seat can move backwards,” said Sanders.
Martinez said Jude has already taken several laps around his neighborhood with his new favorite ride.
“When he first saw the bike, he smiled and he was like, ‘Yay!’ He jumped up and down, and he was excited because he knew it was his and then when he saw his name on it, yeah, he was just super excited,” said Martinez.
Martinez said the tricycle is an upgrade from the old one that was stolen.
“This is an adaptive therapeutic trike to fit his body so much better than the one that was stolen. So, I’m not saying thank you to that upstanding Lubbock citizen that took his trike, but he’s going to have a hard time getting this one because there’s a high-powered lock going with it,” said Sanders.
The Tricycle was presented to Jude at the Caprock AMBUCS basketball tournament.
