A new bike for Otto!

Otto is a 5-year-old boy diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. Otto enjoys being active and one of the ways he can achieve this is by owning his own Freedom Concepts adaptive bike.

Otto’s new #33 Sea Bears–branded adapted bike is the result of a special collaboration between Freedom Concepts, the Winnipeg Sea Bears, the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation, and generous donors honouring the legacy of Chad Posthumus. Otto is receiving the gift of mobility, improved health, and greater independence. This bike is a powerful example of what is possible when a community comes together to support a child’s potential.

 

Otto now has the opportunity to experience the freedom, joy, and therapeutic benefits of cycling, while his family and community celebrate alongside him.

 

This reflects what CRF strives for every day, creating opportunities for children with disabilities to participate and thrive. Together, with partners like the Sea Bears, donors, and Freedom Concepts, we are creating a province where every child can ride, play, and participate in the world around them.

 

Want to support/contribute to Otto's dream coming true? Options:

1. Attending the Aug 8 Sea Bears game. Visit the CRF team on the concourse to make a donation.

2. Not attending but want to support, visit CRF to make an online donation. Add a comment in the form - Otto's Sea Bears bike and the funds will be directed toward the bike.

 

Otto has been gifted his bike, however only partial funding has been secured. We need basketball fans and community support to bring it home!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Winnipeg Sea Bears play on Friday, and then that
is it. We get into the championship weekend, which actually
happens here in Winnipeg August 22nd, August 23rd, August 24th.
There's gonna be 3 on 3 basketball. Shawn Desmond's gonna
be performing. There's gonna be a street festival. There's gonna
be a market, all sorts of amazing things happening. OK,
so on Friday, at fan appreciation night you're going to see

(00:23):
a fan there.
He's pretty young. He's about 4 years old and his
name is Otto, so he's not joining us right now.
I think he's probably busy, but his mom Leah is
joining us. How's it going? Hi, I'm good. Good. OK,
so I have not met Otto, but we've all seen
photos of Otto. So Lloyd's seen a photo of Otto.
I've seen one. Amber was the one that was actually

(00:45):
showing us a photo of Otto. Tell us about Otto.
What is Otto like?
What's he into this year?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
So Otto
is actually a 5 year old boy, and he is
diagnosed with HIE, which meaning a lack of oxygen to
the brain at birth, which has obviously called cerebral palsy.
And so Otto's obviously disability and his family obviously try
our best, uh, to provide a quality of life, uh,
that he deserves, and he's always usually extremely happy.

(01:13):
He has an amazing, uh, smile and just impacts everyone
around him. He loves spending time outside, uh, regular quad rides,
bouncing on the trampoline. He makes funny noises and obviously
now this new bike. Right,

Speaker 1 (01:30):
OK, so yes, Otto, that makes sense, of course.
Why wouldn't Otto want to be riding a bike? Of
course he would, but he needs a specialized bike, right?
And so what does a
Specialized bike for Otto, How is a specialized bike different
than a bike that I don't know anybody else would use?
How is it different?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
So this one is more of like a tricycle style,
so it has like the three wheels, um, and it's
more of a tilt, um, than say a normal upright bike. Um,
it obviously has more straps and obviously a little bell
that he absolutely loves.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
OK, and so this bike is something that you've teamed
up with with the Children's Rehabilitation Foundation and the Winnipeg
Sea Bears. And so this is a Freedom Concepts bike.
And so this bike really gives Otto all of that
freedom that he deserves as a 5 year old learning
to ride his bike for the very first time, right?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Exactly, yeah. It was, uh, actually when we went and
did the test run, Otto has never been
on a bike ever in his life. And within 10 minutes,
he started peddling and kind of brought tears to my
eyes because I was like, oh my God, he's actually
doing
it.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
That's so amazing. So now tell us a little bit
about this bike that he has because this one is really,
really special because it's a Sea bears Branded adapted bike.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yes, um, the, obviously customization of what they did to
the bike is
absolutely amazing. And then obviously having the number 33 on it, um,
it's extra special, uh, due to Chad, so it definitely
means a
lot.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, so when you see Otto cruising around on this bike,
this beautiful Freedom Concepts adapted bike, it, uh, as Leah
was saying, it kind of looks like a tricycle, but it, it's,
it's customized, which is so special because it's got the
Sea Bear's teal
colours on it and then it's got a really sweet
33 right on the front of it and that's to

(03:32):
honour the legacy of Chad Posthumus and so this is
a gift that allows we're talking about independence for Otto
it's freedom, right? It's summer time! This is when you
should be out and you should be enjoying the outdoors
as Otto already does and now he has that independence
to go out and like really make it a really
great
summer. So here's the thing, we're hoping to raise enough

(03:54):
money for this bike and so that's why Otto and
his family will be at the Sea Bears game on Friday.
So you can find the team on the concourse and
you can help make a donation and so if you're
not gonna be at that game because you've already got plans,
no problem, we already like we understand that you can
do an online donation too through Children's Rehabilitation Foundation.

(04:18):
And so, um, Leah, I understand like you're gonna be there,
the family's gonna be there, you've got a lot of
friends that are going to the game on Friday as
well.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Uh, yeah, Otto has quite a bit of supporters. I
believe a total of about 16 between grandparents and, uh,
cousins and aunts and uncles that will definitely be there, um,
as well.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
So. Like Leah, that's just a fun night,
right? Like everybody getting together figuring out how you're gonna meet,
who's got the tickets, right? Are you going to grab
something beforehand to eat? Like that's just a fun night
for everybody. We're really, really excited for you.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, it's definitely, uh, again, we've never done anything like this, so, uh,
it will be an experience, that's
for sure.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
That's amazing. So we wish Otto an amazing rest of
the summer.
There's still so much of it left. We wish you
and the whole entire family a really great time at
the Sea Bears game on Friday, and we will make
sure that everyone knows about Otto and his really amazing
tricked out bike, and we'll see if we can get

(05:19):
more people helping the Children's Rehabilitation Foundation.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Thank you so
much for letting us be a part of this incredible
opportunity.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
It's our pleasure. We try to help wherever we can,
but honestly this is a very small part. We we're
just happy to like spread the awareness of Otto and
the fact that there are specially adapted bikes that are
needed for some kids in Manitoba and let's help out
Children's Rehabilitation Foundation to supply more of those bikes, so
there's more summer memories made. So have a great rest

(05:47):
of your summer.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Thank you.