Electric Bike Technologies Donates Liberty Trikes to Children With SMA

To assist youngsters with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) achieve mobility and independence, Electric Bike Technologies (EBT) is donating 10 Liberty Trikes — and plans to double that reward subsequent yr.

The Liberty Trike is a folding and active-mobility tricycle that can be utilized by youngsters with SMA and related bodily challenges.

The electrical tricycle provides a variety of impartial mobility that may appear elusive within the conventional medical mobility gadget area, the corporate mentioned. The 750-watt Liberty Trikes have a high velocity of 12 miles per hour and a variety of eight to twenty miles. They’re touted by Forbes as a “hipper mobility scooter” that significantly assist people with restricted mobility.

“Youngsters with SMA deserve a greater mobility choice,” Jason Kraft, CEO of Electrical Bike Applied sciences, mentioned in a press release. “And their mother and father, that give all the things to make their youngsters’s lives higher, may use a little bit assist.”

SMA is a neurodegenerative illness characterised by muscle weakness that results in atrophy. As SMA progresses, motion turns into slower, and sufferers can lose the power to manage voluntary motion.

EBT’s choice to donate was sparked by an e-mail to the corporate final yr from Kimberly Heinrich, whose 11-year-old daughter, Allison, has SMA. Heinrich was looking for recommendation on what trike may assist Allison get exercise and take part in household bike rides.

In that e-mail, “Kim mentioned, ‘She must ‘use it’ or she’ll lose it… it’s the motto of those youngsters making an attempt to keep up mobility and freedom in opposition to a merciless illness. This isn’t simply train however social fairness, that she issues simply as a lot as her brothers and different friends.’”

Heinrich’s e-mail concluded: “I’ll do all the things I can to assist make it occur for her.”

Every week after the correspondence, in line with Kraft, Heinrich and her daughter have been in EBT’s warehouse close to Philadelphia so Allison may take a take a look at experience.

“I’ve by no means seen anybody take to any of our electrical trikes the way in which Allison took to the Liberty Trike,” Kraft mentioned. “I used to be moved by Allison however one thing hit me like a ton of bricks that day. I’ve three youngsters near Allison’s age and it was crystal clear that Kim would sacrifice something to enhance Allison’s high quality of life. At that second, I knew we weren’t solely going to assist Allison, however we have been going to assist Kim too.”

EBT has enlisted Heinrich to assist choose this yr’s Liberty Trike recipients. She’s chosen 4 households thus far, in line with Heinrich, and in addition has agreed to assist with subsequent yr’s donations.

The Liberty Trike is offered straight by the corporate at a price of $1,498, in line with EBT’s web site.

SMA impacts as many as 10,000 to 25,000 youngsters and adults within the U.S., in line with the SMA Basis.

Mary M. Chapman started her skilled profession at United Press Worldwide, working each print and broadcast desks. She then grew to become a Michigan correspondent for what’s now Bloomberg BNA, the place she primarily lined the automotive business plus authorized, tax and regulatory points. A member of the Automotive Press Affiliation and considered one of a comparatively small variety of ladies on the automobile beat, Chapman has mentioned the automotive business a number of instances of Nationwide Public Radio, and in 2014 was chosen as an honorary decide on the prestigious Cobble Seaside Concours d’Class. She has written for quite a few nationwide shops together with Time, Folks, Al-Jazeera America, Fortune, Every day Beast, MSN.com, Newsweek, The Detroit Information and Detroit Free Press. The winner of the Society of Skilled Journalists award for excellent reporting, Chapman has had dozens of articles in The New York Occasions, together with two on the coveted entrance web page. She has accomplished a manuscript about centenarian automobile fanatic Margaret Dunning, titled “Belle of the Concours.”

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Ana holds a PhD in Immunology from the College of Lisbon and labored as a postdoctoral researcher at Instituto de Medicina Molecular (iMM) in Lisbon, Portugal. She graduated with a BSc in Genetics from the College of Newcastle and acquired a Masters in Biomolecular Archaeology from the College of Manchester, England. After leaving the lab to pursue a profession in Science Communication, she served because the Director of Science Communication at iMM.