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Bike for Garrett
 On
June 23, 2000, Eric and Nancy Miller received devastating news:
their 5-year old son, Garrett, was diagnosed with a malignant brain
tumor. It was so serious he was rushed into surgery the very next
day. “Our world turned upside down,” say the Millers, who also have
three other children.
Before his operation, Garrett was an active, athletic little boy,
who loved playing T-ball. After the surgery, he was mute, paralyzed,
and on a ventilator. “He had to relearn everything,” says Nancy.
Later, came more horrific news: Garrett was blind. “For me, that
was almost worse than the tumor,” recalls Eric.
Shortly after that, Eric read about world-class athlete Matt
King, a blind paralympic tandem cyclist (and an IBO, though Eric
didn't know that at the time). Eric contacted Matt, who then opened
many new doors to the Millers.
Eric, who is a triathlon athlete himself, was then determined to
get his son a tandem bike. “When I told Garrett about it, he said to
me, 'Dad, I don't get it. How can a guy sit on a bike, balance, and
use the cane?' He didn't understand that with a tandem, he sits on
the back seat and the person in front steers,” laughs Eric.
Tandem bikes are expensive – between $2000 and $4000 – but with
fund-raising help from their friends, co-workers, and IBOs in their
organization, the Millers were able to make the purchase. “Before
Garrett got the bike, he wouldn't even go outside and play because
he couldn't see,” says Nancy. “Afterwards, he was the hit of the
neighborhood.”
The impact was remarkable. After seeing its effect on his son,
Eric wanted to help other blind kids get bikes. "I had a vision
about it," he says. “I saw thousands of kids riding bikes. And I
knew I had to do something.”
And so the Rush-Miller Foundation was born. (Rush is Nancy's
maiden name.) Since 2001, the foundation purchased 10 bikes for
blind children all over the country. “We require that all recipients
fund-raise to help other kids get bikes, too,” says Eric. “When they
understand they can help somebody else, that's empowering.”
Eric says having a Web site at
www.rushmillerfoundation.org and corresponding with people all
over the world via e-mail has made the foundation grow quickly. “It
shows you the incredible power of the Internet,” he says. “It's all
pretty amazing.”
“We're just very grateful for all the help we've received from so
many people,” adds Nancy. “We're truly blessed.”
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