When 11-year-old Brynne was in second grade, she suffered an unexpected grand mal seizure while at school. Her teacher called 911 and an ambulance raced Brynne and her mother, Ann Lynch, to the hospital to figure out why this was occurring. The family was devastated to learn Brynne’s diagnosis was autoimmune encephalitis, which is a collection of related conditions in which the body’s immune system attacks the brain.

At the hospital, Brynne’s seizures got worse and her brain began to take on some damage from the violent onslaught of irregular activity. It wasn’t long before Brynne was moved to a hospital room for more appropriate care. The seizures became so severe that they forced this sweet 9-year-old to be hospitalized for the next six months. By time she was discharged, Brynne had to learn how to walk, talk, eat and complete normal day-to-day activities again.

“Life has changed a lot for Brynne and our family, but she tries every day to achieve her own definition of normalcy,” Ann told us. “A couple challenges Brynne faces are body temperature regulation, as well as mental and physical exhaustion from simple tasks. What one person can do with little-to-no effort, Brynne has to apply a lot of focus to achieve.”

Another side effect from her brain injury was that her gross and fine motor skills were drastically affected, as well. Things like balance, agility and muscular precision is something she struggles with daily.

“As a family we try to stay very active. We enjoy bike riding but it is definitely a challenge for Brynne,” Ann informed us. “She used to play baseball before she got sick, but her coordination isn’t there anymore, so it’s hard for her.”

When we spoke to Ann and her husband Benjamin they were hopeful to get Brynne an adaptive tricycle that would allow her to not only rejoin her family in a favorite past time, but allow Brynne to focus on having fun while riding instead of simply staying upright.

“The bike we want is very expensive,” Benjamin wrote us. “With my wife working part-time and I’m working full-time and with normal day-to-day bills, we cannot afford to pay for this piece of equipment.”

This isn’t surprising to hear as medically-necessary therapy equipment like this bike not only cost more than $4,000, but are typically denied by private insurance plans.

We are so thankful to have a corporate partner like Wawa and The Wawa Foundation who have selected Holton’s Heroes as a 2022 recipient of a $5,000 grant. Incredibly, we were able to fund the full cost of the adaptive bike with this grant. We are so grateful for Wawa’s support of pediatric brain injury survivors and their recovery. Thanks to their grant, we were able to gift Brynne a brand new adaptive bike from Rifton that she can grow with for years to come.

While the assistance of caring corporations like Wawa are important, we are only able to continue to help kids recovering from brain injuries with your personal support. Please consider making a tax-deductible gift directly to our foundation today. You can donate safely here.

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