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Girl Makes hand cycle for sister
Student creates hand-pedal tricycle for sibling
By Bruce Walton
LEAVITTSBURG
Brenna David is an 11-year-old girl who has a condition in which she can’t bend her legs, and because of that, she can’t do a lot of things her friends can, especially riding a bike. But her sister, Brookelynn Barr, 18, decided to make one for her.
“I was really happy and excited,” Brenna said. “Now I can ride with my friends and stuff.”
Brenna suffers from a condition known as arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, which restricts the flexibility of the joints in her body, including her jaw, knees and feet in addition to having club feet, which causes the feet to be twisted in an unusual position. Brenna has undergone 19 surgeries for her conditions just to have the mobility to walk on her own.
Barr said she wanted her sister to have that same feeling of inclusion with other kids who could ride bikes around the neighborhood. For an 11-year-old, having a bike has a great importance and is one of the first steps toward independence and self-mobility.
“You see people ride their bikes past every day,” She said. “You know you go to some kid’s house and you see a kid riding a bike,”
Their family had searched for a hand cycle for some time, a cycle with three wheels and powered by pedals for the rider’s hand, but Barr said the price of a store-bought one would be about $2,000. As a second-year student at the Trumbull Career and Technical Center, Barr planned to start her final project dedicated to making a hand cycle for her little sister.
She said she had never built anything this complicated before, but felt confident in her ability to manage it and finished creating the invention in just a month’s time.
“I had done projects in welding but not something that we actually built that functions and can be ridden,” She said.
Barr was able to use the welding knowledge from class. She also received older bike parts from people she knew to work on the bike and cut them up, reviewing examples of pictures of hand cycles with the help of her uncle, who works as an engineer.
The entire cost of Barr’s project took less than $100 with the construction of the seat and extending the length of a bike chain as well as the paint.
Barr said that was thanks to the donated bike parts from friends and family. Now, with the location they live in, Barr said she can go anywhere since they have wide-open roads near their home. Brenna said she’s been getting the hang of turning and pedaling and enjoys riding her new wheels.
Surprisingly, despite her talent in welding, Barr said she’ll start attending to Youngstown State University next year to become a dietitian. Though it’s something she enjoys, Barr said her passion doesn’t lie with welding, but she felt glad to have the opportunity to make something so important for her little sister. And as Brenna starts to grow, Barr said she can adjust and extend the hand cycle to fit Brenna as her legs get longer.