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157-mile bike ride to ‘give back’
  
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By Michele Sample
As a former pediatric physical therapist at The Children’s Hospital, Nanci Ricks worked with many special needs children.
The hardest part was when she found out her son, Dillon, required her professional expertise.
“I was now the parent with a special needs child,” Ricks said. “It was hard accepting it, understanding it when it was happening to me, not at work.”
The first sign something was wrong came to Ricks when she was pregnant with Dillon, and he stopped growing. Then his APGAR score at birth was low, a quick test performed at one and five minutes after birth to determine the physical condition of the newborn.
When Dillon was 2 months old, Ricks began investigating his health, spending two days a week at The Children’s Hospital where they performed blood draws on her son. The results revealed a very rare genetic disorder, 18q-. About one in every 40,000 babies is born with 18q-.
“The q tail on his eighteenth chromosome is missing,” Ricks said. According to Ricks, this is so rare, it is called the ‘Orphan Syndrome’. The disorder left Dillon with a lack of physical strength and balance challenges as well as a weak immune system. He also has difficulty understanding directions that are given quickly and some trouble verbally condensing his thoughts. Ricks said her son has undergone music therapy, occupational therapy and through the support of her friends, taught him how to walk, which Ricks said “was a big deal”, and balance himself enough to run. When Dillon was eight years old, Ricks and her friends spent one entire week teaching him to ride a bike.
“My therapist friends stayed at our house and with a lot of repetition, and forcing him to practice, he learned to ride,” Ricks said.
Now at the age of 16, Dillon has not only learned to snow ski, attends mainstream classes at Rock Canyon High School, but is riding his road bicycle 10 to 20 miles a day. He is training to ride 157-miles in The Children’s Hospital 20th Annual Courage Classic in Leadville on July 25, 26 and 27. The three-day bicycle tour through the Colorado Rockies will raise money for The Children’s Hospital.
Ricks said Dillon started participating in The Children’s Hospital Sports Program eight years ago, and now that he is in better shape and older, he wanted to give back to the program.
“I am interested to see how I can challenge myself both mentally and physically,” Dillon said. “I’m glad that I can give back to the hospital’s sports program that gave me so much.”
Dillon said his training routine consists of getting up in the morning, eating breakfast, and then later in the day he rides “maybe 20 miles”.
Ricks said he has taken some spills, and gotten “road rash”, but riding his bike alone gives him the independence he needs.
For information on sponsorship of Dillon Ricks for the Courage Classic, contact www.nanciricks@mac.com, or for information on registration for the Courage Classic, www.couragetours.com. The cost to register is $95 and a minimum of $300 in donations must be collected and turned in before the tour. Last year $2.7 million was raised.
Bike
The hardest part was when she found out her son, Dillon, required her professional expertise.
“I was now the parent with a special needs child,” Ricks said. “It was hard accepting it, understanding it when it was happening to me, not at work.”
The first sign something was wrong came to Ricks when she was pregnant with Dillon, and he stopped growing. Then his APGAR score at birth was low, a quick test performed at one and five minutes after birth to determine the physical condition of the newborn.
When Dillon was 2 months old, Ricks began investigating his health, spending two days a week at The Children’s Hospital where they performed blood draws on her son. The results revealed a very rare genetic disorder, 18q-. About one in every 40,000 babies is born with 18q-.
“The q tail on his eighteenth chromosome is missing,” Ricks said. According to Ricks, this is so rare, it is called the ‘Orphan Syndrome’. The disorder left Dillon with a lack of physical strength and balance challenges as well as a weak immune system. He also has difficulty understanding directions that are given quickly and some trouble verbally condensing his thoughts. Ricks said her son has undergone music therapy, occupational therapy and through the support of her friends, taught him how to walk, which Ricks said “was a big deal”, and balance himself enough to run. When Dillon was eight years old, Ricks and her friends spent one entire week teaching him to ride a bike.
“My therapist friends stayed at our house and with a lot of repetition, and forcing him to practice, he learned to ride,” Ricks said.
Now at the age of 16, Dillon has not only learned to snow ski, attends mainstream classes at Rock Canyon High School, but is riding his road bicycle 10 to 20 miles a day. He is training to ride 157-miles in The Children’s Hospital 20th Annual Courage Classic in Leadville on July 25, 26 and 27. The three-day bicycle tour through the Colorado Rockies will raise money for The Children’s Hospital.
Ricks said Dillon started participating in The Children’s Hospital Sports Program eight years ago, and now that he is in better shape and older, he wanted to give back to the program.
“I am interested to see how I can challenge myself both mentally and physically,” Dillon said. “I’m glad that I can give back to the hospital’s sports program that gave me so much.”
Dillon said his training routine consists of getting up in the morning, eating breakfast, and then later in the day he rides “maybe 20 miles”.
Ricks said he has taken some spills, and gotten “road rash”, but riding his bike alone gives him the independence he needs.
For information on sponsorship of Dillon Ricks for the Courage Classic, contact www.nanciricks@mac.com, or for information on registration for the Courage Classic, www.couragetours.com. The cost to register is $95 and a minimum of $300 in donations must be collected and turned in before the tour. Last year $2.7 million was raised.
Bike
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