On a regular day when a fire truck pulls out of Prince Albert’s fire station, it’s for an emergency.
But Sunday was no regular day.
The fire truck pulled out in front of a crowd of people at the station, revealing a brand new bike for ten-year-old Nicholas Bishop.
His face lit up in disbelief as he looked at his first bike.
Nicholas has Cerebral Palsy, and hasn’t been able to ride a bike unassisted.
The bike has three wheels to make it safe to ride. Using the bike will also help Nicholas’ leg muscles develop, and the hope is that one day he’ll be able to ride a two-wheeled bike.
He put it through its paces in the fire hall, riding around and turning on a dime as firefighters and his family looked on.
“Every kid deserves to have a bike,” his mother Rachel said. “We love to do things as a family. Bike riding is something we’ve wanted to do as a family for quite some time and now we’re going to be able to go all together.
“It’ll be a wonderful thing.”
Nicholas said the first place he was going to ride was right back to the fire station.
He’d been completely in the dark about the donation.
Firefighters picked him and his family up at his house, bringing out two fire trucks and their smaller grass fire truck.
Even just having firefighters at his house was enough to make Nicholas’ day.
The Bishop family had been looking at a bike for Nicholas, but unfortunately the timing was never right.
The donation of the bike freed the Bishop family from a lot of stress, and Nicholas’ father Wayne said it was a huge relief to receive the bike.
“You try and save, and then this comes up or that comes up…the savings are there and then gone right away. We never thought we’d be able to really do it on our own.”
The Bishop’s had initially be hesitant to write in to the Prince Albert Fire Fighters Charity, but did so at the prompting of Nicholas’ great-uncle, Cpt. Kris Olsen with the P.A. fire department.
“It went before the charity committee and they accepted the recommendation to purchase this bike,” he said.
Olsen believes the new bike will help Nicholas in more than a physical aspect.
“The three-wheeler will assist in strengthening and allow him to ride with the other kids. I believe it will help him socially to be able to get out with kids and ride.”
The family had nothing but thanks for the fire department and for the city of Prince Albert.
“This shows the generosity of not only the P.A. fire fighters but the city itself,” Wayne Bishop said.
Muscular Dystrophy is the National Charity for firefighters in Canada, and the P.A. firefighters looked just as happy as Nicholas when they unveiled the bike.
ssterritt@jpbg.ca
On Twitter: @spencer_sterritt
