Tatiana

“At some point our backs were turned,” Vanessa Chang recalls of the day her daughter Tatiana drowned. “She decided she was ‘done with the floaties’ and chose to take on the pool on her own. She only made it to the second step before she was underwater and no one saw or heard a peep. There was no splash, no scream, nothing.”

Unlike the common, inaccurate depictions in film and TV, most drowning accidents happen exactly as Vanessa describes. That day in the pool, Tatiana survived the drowning with an acquired anoxic brain injury.

“[The] biggest piece of advice I could give to other parents is to ditch the floaties,” Vanessa pleads. “Our kids need ISR [Infant Swimming Resource] lessons and proper swim training. I had a $300 car seat in my car because it was best for my child, but I had no idea that drowning is the leading cause of death in kids ages 1 through 4. She was safe as she could be in my car, but she didn’t have a fighting chance in that pool.”

That sunny afternoon in June 2017 started off as pleasant as anyone could hope. Vanessa was having a lunch date with a friend and her daughter, who was close with one of Tati's older sisters. At the home, the three girls were swimming under the watchful eyes of their moms. After enjoying a quick lunch, both women quickly cleared the outdoor table. In that moment, within less than 3 minutes, Tati went from being a vibrant, active little girl who spent most of her days idolizing her two big sisters, Allie and Isabella, to a child who lost the ability to move her body with purpose or communicate her simplest wishes and desires.

Tati enjoying her new customized adaptive bike with her sisters down in Florida.

We were contacted by the good people of Freedom Concepts, who told us about Tati and her family's hope to acquire one of their incredible—but costly—adaptive therapy bikes. Freedom Concepts has been imagining, designing, and building a full line of special needs bicycles and mobility devices for over twenty years.

Vanessa and the Freedom Concepts team had already imagined Tati’s bike, so thanks to our incredible donors we were able to green-light production on the custom ride and suggest some added HH customization, of course. ;)

“The gift has been great for our family for many reasons,” Vanessa wrote to us after presenting Tati with her new bike on Christmas morning. “The first one being the excitement her older sisters experienced on Christmas Day over the fact that Tati received a ‘real gift.’ Since her accident, birthdays and Christmas have been hard because it’s a struggle to find appropriate gifts for a child with such severe needs.”

Vanessa went on to explain that she often feels Tati has not only been robbed of accomplishing childhood milestones like learning to ride a bike, but she’s been robbed of the time she used to spend with her big sisters. However, having this new bike is an activity that all three of them can do together.

“The older girls like to walk around the neighborhood and be teen girls; snapping pics, making silly videos, Snapchats, etc.,” Vanessa wrote to us. “Now, they can put Tati on the bike and she can tag along, like one of the girls.”

Of course, the bike also offers real long-term health benefits. “She is completely non-mobile and her little body gets so stiff from not being able to stand, walk, or run. The motion of the bike helps Tati move her legs so that her hips and body are in motion,” Vanessa told us. “My hope is that with consistent use, she will begin to initiate her own pedal strokes one day.”

You can check out photos of the bike in the slideshow below or one of the cute videos of Tati by her sisters above.

“When Tati’s accident first happened, I specifically remember being told ‘she’ll never ride a bike.’ I would want donors to know that they gave Tati a chance to do something the doctors said she would never do.”

— Vanessa Chang, Tatiana's mom