Surrey’s Brayden Walterhouse, 20, has been challenged by cerebral palsy and deafness, but he’s always persevered.
One of the main tools he relies on is a black Opus brand bike, which allows him to travel to social engagements and to the gym.
Because of his cerebral palsy – a disorder of the brain and nervous system that can affect movement – Walterhouse can’t use one of his feet very well on the bike’s pedals, so his parents installed a motor on the bicycle.
But the young man’s freedom was suddenly taken away Tuesday (Aug. 14) while he was working out at the gym at the Guildford Recreation Centre.
He arrived for a three-hour workout at about noon, and during that time, someone cut the locked cable that secured his bike outside the rec centre and made off with it.
“It was required to (me) due to my cerebral palsy,” Walterhouse said in text message interview with The Leader Thursday. “And also, I can’t afford to buy a new one. It was $1,000.”
Walterhouse works at the Home Depot in Langley and still carries with him two disheartening reminders that his bike has been stolen.
“I am still having my two keys for it. One for turn on the electric and another one for lock up,” Walterhouse wrote. “My electric [bike] is very important and required to me, due to cerebral palsy. I already reported to the police about it, and also I already made a poster and posted it at the recreation centre in order to let everyone to know about it.”
The bike is described as a small-sized black Opus brand bicycle with a silver box – a motor – on the back.
Anyone who has any information about the location of the bike or who took it can call the Surrey RCMP non-emergency line at 604-599-0502.
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