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Daniel Knight raised £750 from 9 supporters
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Closed 28/12/2018
Iʼve raised £750 to fund an electric assisted bicycle that will assist my mobility and enable me a better quality of life.
- Weymouth, UK
- Funded on Friday, 28th December 2018
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Story
Hello, I'm Daniel who, at 6 feet 5 inches, looks like the most capable, healthy man around. I'm young, at 34, but I'm completely dependant on limited state benefits and expect to be so for the rest of my life. I don't like it, but it's the cards I have been dealt.
I live alone in a Housing Association flat and have tried to carve out the best lifestyle I can, given the health problems I face. I would describe myself as a 33 year old, having the genetic make-up of a 90 years old man. The health problems include:
Aspergers, which makes me stressed when faced with change
Growth Hormone deficiency, which causes decreased muscle mass and low energy levels
Pituitary Disease, which makes me feel tired or weak
Proximal Myopathy, which causes muscle loss and weakness
Osteoarthritis, which gives me limited motion
Osgood-Schlatter Disease, which causes pain that gets worse after exercise
Acromegaly, which causes giantism.
So, I feel worse than I look. The walking stick is my only giveaway. But please, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, because that helps no-one. I can be very self-sufficient in many ways, except for mobility.
At the moment I can manage to get around on a large-framed bicycle. Medical opinion is that I won't be able to do this for much longer before I need some assistance. An electric bicycle would help me, but unfortunately, the state does not offer that kind of assistance. I have an appeal outstanding to gain the support element of ESA but don't hold out much hope. A mobility scooter is not an option as I live in a first floor flat and have nowhere to store one on the ground floor. I also live 1.5 miles from the shopping centre with many hills between.
At present, I can use the bicycle to get to my college course, though I am sometimes too tired to ride home and have to chain it up and catch the bus (using my concessionary bus travel pass). I also use the bicycle to travel to the local supermarkets, where I try and pick up the “best before” shelf bargains. My basic needs are met by the limited benefits I am entitled to, but if I could only address the mobility problem, I should be delighted. My own family have been unable to offer any financial assistance, for various reasons and having Aspergers.
I have done some research and find that an electric bike, sized for a very tall man, costs about £1,750.
Would you like to help me keep my independence?
01 - 10 - 2018
Thank you to everyone who contributed to my Crowdfunding page. Whilst I was hoping to achieve the cost of a new eBike at £1,750, nonetheless, I was very pleased to have achieved £670. I managed to top up this figure to £780, with some back pay I received from my Appeal to the Employment and Support Tribunal, This allows me, with the help of an experienced friend, to order a conversion kit that changes my manual bike to an electric one. This will now make a considerable difference to me, as I have often been too weak to ride my bike home. I have had to leave it chained up and taken a bus ride home. I can now ride to the local supermarket and take the bags home on my carrier. I can also attend college on it once again, as it does lie on a bus route. It will also allow me to be safer on the local back roads that I use, being able to pull away at lights and get past parked cars on inclines much quicker without drivers getting fed up and overtaking dangerously. You can imagine what freedom it has given me once again, and I am very grateful to those who helped me achieve this position. I'm going to keep the page live as there may be some additional cost to finish the adaption and also because the life of batteries is very short at around 2-3 years so being able to replace it at a cost of £350 is a worry once I become dependant on the motor.
Updates
1
- 6 years ago
Daniel Knight
6 years agoRead story to find out what we have done so far with money raised, and thank you to everyone who donated.
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Daniel Knight started crowdfunding
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Supporters
9
Albert & Rosemary Vaughan
Oct 18, 2018
Hope this helps towards the electric bike
£50.00
Mum
Sep 25, 2018
Hopefully you can now adapt your bike x
£30.00
jacqui james-hunt
Sep 20, 2018
good luck
£20.00
Anonymous
Sep 20, 2018
I hope you're successful. The government is proving very unhelpful to people like you on state benefits.
Anonymous
Sep 16, 2018
£50.00
Anonymous
Sep 16, 2018
£450.00
Anonymous
Aug 30, 2018
Just a little towards your target.
£30.00
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Daniel Knight
Weymouth, UK
The picture is of me in 2017 after receiving an adapted bicycle for my mobility. It's adapted to carry a walking stick, shopping on the back, gear, brakes and handlebars because of my dexterity problems and a mirror to save my neck from looking over shoulder.