Christmas present has West Chicago boy riding high

When friends in his unincorporated West Chicago neighborhood rode their bikes up and down the street or to the local park, 5-year-old Owen Payton could only watch.

Owen, a kindergartner at Evergreen Elementary School, has mild hemiplegia cerebral palsy that affects the right side of his body. He is unable to ride a standard pushbike.

But on Saturday, Owen received what he called “the best Christmas gift ever”— a bright yellow adaptive bike with three wheels, a custom fit seat, wide handle bars and pedals that accommodate for his weak right side.

The early Christmas present was provided by Project Mobility and the fundraising efforts of St. Charles teenager Riley Christensen, who has donated 10 other bikes, and raised the money for this one. The Bike Rack in St. Charles supplied the $3,000 bike and made the modifications.

“I can ride it very fast,” Owen said from his family's dining room Saturday afternoon, shortly after the special gift was delivered.

Owen's father, Christopher Payton, said the bike will not only let Owen ride along with his friends, it will provide physical therapy to make him stronger.

“The pedals have straps and because he is stronger on his left side, when he pulls up with his left leg, it will help the right leg,” Christopher Payton said. “It will allow him to ride a bike ... and build muscles that he has never used before.”

The new bike will grow with Owen more than a standard bike, Christopher Payton said.

“At some point he will need a new bike,” Christopher Payton said. “We should start saving for one now.”

Owen, who also enjoys playing his Wii gaming console and climbing on his new playground equipment, which he received from the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the fall, said he will ride his bike with his friends, parents and younger sister, Juliet, to the nearby park.

His mother, Christina, said one more modification will need to be made before Owen can ride on his own. Right now, the bike only has a brake that can be applied when someone is pushing the bike along.

“Owen was riding on his own and he was flying down the drive way,” Christina Payton said. “We were running along side him because the only brake is on a handle for parents to brake.”