THIEVES stole Isaac Cullen’s third birthday present in August, but community spirit has put the grunt back in his life.
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The smile could not be wiped from the Nowra boy’s face when Great Southern Motorcycles gave the bright, bubbly child a new Pee-wee 50 Yamaha topped with a Yamaha action camera, thanks to the generosity of locals.
From eight months of age Isaac was obsessed with motorbikes. When he was diagnosed with autism aged three, his parents were told physical activities played to his strengths.
“We took him riding with a friend one day and he absolutely loved it,” Isaac’s mother Michala Towne said.
“He didn’t want to go home and we later decided to buy him his first bike.
“He was over the moon the first time he rode it.”
Within two days it was gone.
Ms Towne said she didn’t have the heart to tell her son the bike had been taken.
But when Gregory Turner from Maple Leaf Realty read on Facebook Isaac’s bike was taken from his parents’ backyard he hit the throttle.
“I thought how crappy it was that someone would do that to such a lovely kid,” he said.
He set up a fundraising website and put his contact list to work.
“Charlie from Great Southern Motorcycles was able to give us a fabulous deal and Nowra’s Bendigo Bank had a collection tin in their office.”
About $1910 was raised, but nothing could put a price on Isaac’s reaction to his new favourite toy.
“I like the blue,” he said.
The colour matches his eyes and enthusiasm for his future dream of becoming a world-class motocross champion.