Custom bike is wish come true for girl in Bay Minette

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BAY MINETTE, Alabama — Christmas wishes came true early for a girl in Bay Minette when she was presented with her very own custom-made bicycle on Thanksgiving Day.

Five-year-old Puja was born in India without arms. In 2018, she was adopted by the Nelson family, Lucy and Luke, who also have four biological children and a son they adopted when he was 16 who is now 22 and living on his own. They also recently welcomed a foster child into their home who is now 11 months old.

“All of our children are close,” said Lucy Nelson. “They love playing together and Puja is right there with them. She doesn’t know the word ‘can’t.’ She always faces challenges head-on and doesn’t stop until she figures it out.”

Puja and her siblings are constantly going over to visit with relatives and neighbors nearby.

“All four of the older children have bicycles and are always riding around the neighborhood,” Lucy Nelson said. “Puja would just run alongside and while she never said anything, I could tell she really wanted to have a bike of her own that she could ride herself.”

Luke Nelson is an avid cyclist who rides in a group with several of his neighbors, one of which is Lisa Miller, who works for Eastern Shore Orthotics and Prosthetics Inc. in Fairhope.

“One day while we were riding, he asked me if Pro Cycle and Tri (a local cycle shop in Fairhope that members of the group frequent), might be able to modify a bicycle that Puja could ride,” Miller said. “Right then, God put it on my heart to do something for her.”

It ended up being a group effort.

Miller said she knew she wanted to do something that would be economical, something that she wouldn’t have to use a lot of parts from her business, and something that could be easily modified as Puja grew.

A coworker came up with the idea of using a camera tri-pod system to make a harness that could be fitted to Puja, allowing her to steer with her body. Miller said she was able to find a good used bicycle and her father, Calvin Schrock, who owns a fabrication shop in Atmore, was able to help her put the bicycle together.

The bike shop also helped with the project and she even got some input from Puja, dropping subtle hints without giving too much away as to what she might like. Both the bike and the helmet are decked out with characters from Puja’s favorite movie “Frozen.”

“She was so excited when we presented her with the bike on Thanksgiving Day,” Miller said. “She even asked if she could ride home in the back with the bike.”

Now Puja rides all over the neighborhood, even visiting the Millers, who live about three-quarters of a mile away.

“She’s fearless,” said Luke Nelson. “She’s crashed several times because she gets to going so fast, she loses control, but she just gets right back up and gets back on.”

She’s getting better at steering the bicycle every time she rides, the Nelsons say, and has even figured out how to back up using her legs (when asked Puja said one of the best parts about the bike is the fact that the pedals only go forward).

“I think it will actually get easier for her when we take the training wheels off,” Luke Nelson said. “The training wheels actually make it harder for her to steer the bike.”