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Freedom to ride: Three-wheelers help the disabled stay mobile

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Anne Guthrie wants to give every disabled person in Beaufort County the freedom to ride.

She and her husband, Louis, began the Little Red Dog Foundation three years ago and so far have given away about 80 specially-equipped tricycles to disabled residents, most of them children.

Much of the group's work has been in the Beaufort area, but it is expanding to Bluffton and Hilton Head Island.

The group donated eight tricycles to Hilton Head Hospital's Pediatric Rehabilitation Center last week. The center will serve as a demonstration site for the tricycles, which can be used during therapy.

Tricycles also will be fitted to patients with specific needs for use at home. The foundation will raise money to pay for the custom rides.

The foundation's goal is to provide as many tricycles as possible.

It is asking for donations.

The tricycles cost between $250 and $800 each.

The hospital also plans to organize a community day each month to share the tricycles with those who are not patients at the center. Center physical therapist Karen Bessinger said patients with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, autism, Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities can benefit from riding.

The three-wheelers provide more stability than a bicycle and can be equipped with back, leg and head supports for those who need the extra help.

Children who are paralyzed from the waist down, for example, can ride with the help of hand pedals.

Children with cerebral palsy also can get a tricycle with the back and head supports. Their parents might need to push them, but the child's legs move like any other child on a bike, said Bessinger.

"It helps with strengthening and endurance," she said. "And it gives them confidence and coordination and pride in themselves."

Anne Guthrie knows what the tricycles can do.

Twenty-three years ago, she suffered severe head trauma as the result of a car accident. She has continuing head and neck pain that prevents her from driving a car, so being able to ride a tricycle made her mobile again. She noticed the benefits immediately.

"It was total freedom," she said. "I can't drive a car, but I can get out and exercise, visit my friends and I don't notice my pain as much when I'm out riding."

Guthrie said she wants others to enjoy that same independence, especially children, no matter how severe their disabilities.

"We want to see these children ride with everyone else," she said. "It is the most wonderful sight to see a child in a wheelchair who thought they would never ever be able to do something like that ... on a bike just like any other kid."

How to help

Send checks to The Little Red Dog Foundation, South Carolina Bank and Trust, 189 Sea Island Parkway, Beaufort, SC 29907.

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