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Watch VideoPueblo man gives tandem bikes to blind children
Story By: David Ortiviz
Source: KOAA
A Pueblo man is helping blind children across the world break stereotypes and live more like any other kid. Eric Miller raises money to give blind kids something every child adores--a bike. With a little help, he tries to teach them they can do anything they set their minds to.
Miller loves to take his kids on a bike ride. For his oldest son Garrett, 13, it's an especially remarkable adventure. Garrett is blind. On a bicycle built for two, Garrett's disability is something you hardly notice.
"I get to be with my dad. I get to ride the bike and don't do really anything but pedal. I guess that's the funnest part," said Garrett.
Miller is a registered nurse at St Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo. It was back in July of 2000, when he found out his son, who was five at the time, had a malignant brain tumor that needed to be removed. "It was the most traumatic thing that ever happened in my life," said Miller.
Garrett is considered to be in remission now, but after the surgery he lost his vision. Understandably, depression sank in, but he quickly improved the day dad brought home a tandem bike. "His hands went down the tube and the seat and went to the second seat and his eyes opened, and you could see that a light bulb went off in his head," said Miller.
It didn't take long for Garrett to get the hang of it. They both pedal, but his dad controls their direction.
Miller wanted other blind children to experience this same thrill, so he started the Rush-Miller Foundation. Over the past several years he's donated 80 tandem bikes in 23 states and six foreign countries.
"It's very cool. It's helping not only the community in Colorado it's helping the United States and other countries too," said Garrett.
Each bikes costs about $1,500. However, Miller says the reward is priceless. "All of a sudden when you give them an opportunity to do something that they didn't think they could do, that opens their minds to do a lot of other things they could never do either," said Miller.
For all his work, Miller got a nursing service award in April and was featured in a physician's magazine called M.D. News.
If you want to make a donation to Miller's foundation or know a blind child who you think would like a tandem bike, contact the Rush-Miller Foundation.
