Jonas is 9 years old and was born with Down’s syndrome. He lives together with his parents and his 5 year old sister Lenja in a house in Pinneberg. After his birth, leukemia was diagnosed and fortunately he survived. Due to cerebral palsy in the left leg and syndrome-induced muscle hypotonia, Jonas learned to walk only six months ago, but still needs a lot of help.
But Jonas has a passion for cycling, because he is fast on the bike, which he can never be otherwise. And so a recumbent bike would be almost perfect, because Jonas would need to be fixed in a seat bike which would take away his pleasure in cycling. He can’t even sit up straight for 10 minutes at dinner. Jonas can steer and pedal independently with a recumbent bike. The health insurance company and the Department of Social Affairs have rejected an application for reimbursement of costs, while the public health officer is clearly in favour of a recumbent bicycle.
After a long search the family found a used recumbent bike for 2.900 €, 841 € was saved by the family themselves. The remaining sum and an additional 150 € for a scooter for Jonas’ little sister, allow the mobility of Jonas and his family.