Every boy wants a bike for Christmas but Josiah Kappert, born without arms, scored an extra special set of wheels, his mum Marika tells Katherine Chatfield.
Josiah Kappert grins as he sits on his new bike and pedals off down the road. But while most 10-year-old boys like nothing more than riding a bike with their mates, it’s still a novelty for Josiah.
Born with no arms, Josiah has never had the luxury of being able to whizz around on two wheels – until now.
“Josiah does everything with his feet, because he’s had no choice,” explains his mum Marika.
“He writes with his feet at school and is quite independent. He’s very cheerful and has a quiet confidence in who he is.”
But although Josiah, who lives in WA’s Riverton, could balance on a tricycle when he was younger, as he got older a two-wheeler was just too hard for him to manoeuvre.
“He got a lot of joy out of his trike, but it got so small for him, he’d end up just riding round and round in circles,” says Marika.
“All his cousins have proper bikes. They’d ride up and down the street and Josiah couldn’t join in. He knew he was missing out. He just wanted to be able to ride around with the others and be part of the group.”
Determined that Josiah shouldn’t miss out on one of childhood’s simplest pleasures, Marika set about finding a solution. She contacted Dreamfit, a charity that recruits volunteers to design equipment for people with disabilities.
CEO Darren Lomman says the challenge of designing a bike for Josiah was too great to turn down.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about this little boy who just wanted to cycle around with his mates,” says Darren. “I had to help him.”
Darren enlisted some university engineering students who were keen to show how engineering could make a difference in the local community. He challenged six teams to make a bike that Josiah could ride comfortably.
“It was great,” he says. “They got so involved. Because there was a little boy waiting for something at the end of the project, they took it very seriously.”
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