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Unique tricycle donation helps Port Orchard boy feel normal

AJ Stasio received the surprise of the summer when a stranger purchased an adult tricycle for him as a means of mobility.

Looking at 9-year-old AJ Stasio, you probably wouldn't notice.

"I want him to be a normal kid," his mother Meredith said.

It was almost five years ago that AJ began having vision problems. A trip to the doctor came with bad news. AJ had what's called neurofibromatosis type 1, a genetic nerve disorder. Benign tumors wrapped themselves around his optic nerves, making him legally blind in both eyes.

It also affects his fine motor skills, causing him to have balance issues.

Summer activity has been challenging.

"It was kinda hard. My brother would help me by getting up and pushing me," AJ said.

He couldn't keep up with the other kids. But his mother heard about adult tricycles and thought it would be just what AJ needed to provide him mobility and a sense of normalcy.

She posted on a community Facebook page asking for fundraising advice. What she got instead was a gift.

"I looked at my husband and I said, I'm going to buy this bike for this boy," Dana Lyons said. "You have this mom with this child that has a disability and all she wants for her son is to be able to ride a bike safely."

So Dana Lyons bought it, put it together, and she and her husband delivered it to AJ this week.

"I have the capability of doing it. So to not do that would have been very selfish," Dana said.

Random acts of kindness "sometimes just blow me away," Meredith said.

In this case, also the gift of giving.

"That was heartwarming," Matthew Lyons said. "The smile on his face and he - he sat down on it and took off like he'd been riding it for years."

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