William is a 20 year old young man who loves car washes, singing along to the radio, playing car wash and barber, being outside and traveling.

He also has Isodicentric15, which has caused him to suffer from low muscle tone, global developmental delays and autism, and epilepsy. Two years ago William was also diagnosed with Lupus. It came on fast and furious with a flare that led to chemotherapy treatments and almost led to dialysis and possible kidney transplatation. But as the true warrior he is, William has fought through all of the awful and is stronger than ever before. His kidneys are working almost normally, and other than taking more medication than ever before he is back to the sweet, helpful, sometimes ornery young man we all love!

After years of various therapies and too many to count doctor's appointments, William has been seizure controlled for 4 years and his lupus has now been in remission for a year. He is learning various job and daily living skills at school. William has even worked in the community doing some janitorial skills and is now trying stocking shelves and bagging groceries!

William has had adaptive bicycles throughout his life but he currently does not have one. A bike would be another form of exercise to help his muscle tone and would be a great way to foster more family time. Because he is unable to pedal hard enough to go up a hill, he needs the support of an additional rider. William is also so enthralled with the wheels on bikes that he forgets to steer most of the time, so having the side by side bike would allow me to pedal and steer the bike.

Because we live right next to the Neal Smith trail system in the Des Moines metro area, we could use this bike everyday! And it would allow us to exercise as a family which would allow so much more bonding.

William has low muscle tone and so really needs the exercise, but needs help with any incline. And with his autism he is so interested in watching the wheels that he doesn’t steer very well! Because we live right off of a Corps of Engineers bike path, this would allow us to go on family rides. We haven’t been able to do that because someone has to walk with William as he no longer has a bike that fits.