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Ali learned to ride a trike !

Ali Smith is a 15 year old epileptic with the cognitive ability of a 2 year old. But it didn't stop her from learning to ride a trike at the age of 15 !

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Ali learned to ride a trike !

Ali learned to ride a trike !

Ali learned to ride a trike !

Ali learned to ride a trike !

Ali learned to ride a trike !

Ali Smith is a 15 year old epileptic with the cognitive ability of a 2 year old. But it didn't stop her from learning to ride a trike at the age of 15 !

Ali Smith is a 15 year old epileptic with the cognitive ability of a 2 year old. But it didn't stop her from learning to ride a trike at the age of 15 !

Ali Smith is a 15 year old epileptic with the cognitive ability of a 2 year old. But it didn't stop her from learning to ride a trike at the age of 15 !

Ali Smith is a 15 year old epileptic with the cognitive ability of a 2 year old. But it didn't stop her from learning to ride a trike at the age of 15 !

Tad Smith
Tad Smith
Tad Smith
Tad Smith
1 Campaign |
Council Bluffs, United States
$265 USD 9 backers
2% of $10,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Hello

My name is Tad Smith and I am Ali’s dad. I had a heart transplant March 31, 2012 due to a 16 year illness. I had been progressively getting worse since I was 24 years old, and had to do less and less work as my health got worse. Because of my health, my daughter has had to go without a lot of things that would enhance the quality of her life. Ali has an uncontrollable seizure disorder, and has several seizures a day. She use to have 500-600 seizures a day, but after two brain surgeries, three vagal nerve stimulators, deep brain stimulators, and the advances of modern medicine, she is down to 6-10 seizures a day. Ali has been to the hospital on hundreds of separate occasions for stitches, staples, or glue to mend the cuts on her face and head. She has a helmet that she wears, but it only does so much good against the drop seizures that she has. Ali had a partial hysterectomy in December of 2011 because of complications of her menstrual cycle. She fell very ill after he surgery and just quit eating. We didn’t know why because she cannot talk, so it was just a guessing game as to why. She had a tube sewn into her stomach so we could feed her, but she just seemed to get worse. At one point a neurologist at the Children’s Hospital in Omaha Nebraska told us that she just has a hard life, and she was just giving up and to be prepared for the worse. We could not believe what he had just said, but WE were not going to give up. So we stayed by her side and fed her one cracker at a time, and gave her meds in her feeding tube, day after day, week after week, month after month until March 25 2012 when she finally started eating on her own and started to bounce back. One week later, the transplant team called me and said that I needed to be at the hospital in 4 hours because they had a new heart for me! While I was in the hospital getting a heart transplant, Ali stopped eating again, and didn’t start eating again until Ali and her mom picked me up at the hospital to bring me home. Since then she has continued to eat and be healthy except for her seizures. In June of last year, Ali attended the Munroe Meyer Institute in Omaha Nebraska and learned to ride an adaptive tricycle. In August, she attended MMI’s Wheel Club. The Wheel Club is a program for special needs children and adults to try out adaptive bicycles. The people with special needs are able to ride on the bicycles with the assistance of another rider. Ali LOVED it. She squealed and giggled for hours. We haven’t seen that kind of joy in Ali’s eyes since she was a toddler! So I decided to put aside my pride, and ask for help to buy a tricycle for Ali, and a bicycle that her mother or I can take her for rides on. I think that it is SOO important for Ali to get to enjoy some of the things that other kids get to enjoy to make her life just a little bit better after all she has been through. I find myself feeling like a horrible parent because I cannot afford to buy her these things because I have been sick and unable to work up to my potential. Even if the goal is not met to buy her both pieces of adaptive equipment, any money that is raised will go towards one or the other. After almost dying last year, and almost losing her too, my love for Ali, and my desire to see her happy has grown immensely. I think that any dad in the world, would want their little princess to just be happy!

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A video of Ali

$25 USD
Any one who gives 25 dollars in support will recieve a video of Ali on her new tricycle and her new bicycle
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