This summer we received a heartfelt message from Elizabeth, the mother of a courageous little girl named Mazie who also enjoys riding her Strider Bike.

Though you would not know it by the warmth of her smile Mazie was born with half a heart and will require many surgeries throughout her life. Just this summer she underwent her third open-heart surgery which unfortunately resulted in a few complications. Following her surgery, Mazie was so weak that she could not even walk down the hall. During her recovery, Elizabeth could see the ‘spirit and sparkle’ that Mazie once exuded slowly fading away and she feared that Mazie was starting to give up on life. That is when her therapist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, suggested that Mazie’s parents bring her Strider Bike into the hospital. Before surgery, Mazie’s favorite thing to do was ride her Strider Bike and they thought this would brighten her days in the hospital and hopefully help motivate her recovery. After seeing her little red 12” Strider Bike Mazie perked up and decided that she was going to ride it all day and night – up and down the halls – and all over the Children’s Hospital. After a few weeks, Mazie was so well known for her love of biking in and around the hospital that her team of doctors and nurses – who themselves are part of a biking team named the ‘Cardiac Climbers’ for the hospital’s annual Courage Classic bike event –  named Mazie an honorary ‘Cardiac Climber’.