Miles Zimerla is an 11-year-old Manchester resident with multiple disabilities who was born prematurely at 26 weeks.
His family is seeking community support to win an all-terrain adaptive bike in a national giveaway contest.
The adaptive bike would allow Miles to more easily visit places like the beach, parks, and zoos.
MANCHESTER — Miles Zimerla is an 11-year-old Manchester resident who can’t walk, talk or see, but he loves the sound of Velcro.
“His hearing is phenomenal,” said Danielle Sosdian, a licensed practical nurse who provides in-home care for Miles. “When he hears Velcro his face lights up. He loves the opening and closing of a dresser drawer. When his siblings come home and the screen door slams, he lets out this screech of joy.”
Miles was born premature at 26 weeks, and he’s lived a life filled with challenges, including seizures, lung problems and a dislocating hip that has required multiple surgeries. Each day Sosdian spends with him is an education in perseverance.
“It’s a privilege to work with him, because he teaches us about humanity without even saying one word,” the nurse said. “He has endured so much suffering but smiles through it. It’s truly amazing.”
But he’s growing out of the stroller wheelchair his parents use to get him out and about — to the beach, the park, the zoo.
“We’re transitioning him into a regular wheelchair, which is overwhelming,” mom Melissa Zimerla said. Her hope is to get him what is known as an “adaptive bike” for all-terrain use outdoors. These cost several thousand dollars, but Melissa is hoping to win one through a national giveaway contest taking place right now.
For that, she’ll need community support.
‘Miles was not supposed to make it’
Melissa Zimerla was 23 weeks pregnant with identical twins when she received bad news.
“One of them, Miles, was getting less blood flow to him,” she said. “He wasn’t growing.”
She got multiple opinions from medical experts. One suggested abortion.
“I said, ‘Let God do what God wants to do,’” Melissa said. “I’m just going to roll with this.”
A couple of weeks later, an ultrasound showed Miles wasn’t moving. Melissa underwent an emergency C-section and both boys survived.
“Zachary, luckily, did amazing,” she said. “Miles was not supposed to make it.”
But he did, after spending 130 days in the neonatal intensive care unit at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch.
“He came home on oxygen,” Melissa recalled. “It was scary. We had to call 911 a lot.”
Zachary is in sixth grade now, getting good grades and playing soccer. Miles attends the LADACIN Network’s Lehmann School, in Lakewood, for children with special needs. His care is a round-the-clock endeavor, including two nurses and a physical therapist. Both parents work — Melissa is a dental hygienist — and rotate overnights looking after him.
“His parents are phenomenal,” Sosdian said.
The adaptive bike would make their lives a little bit easier.
‘To live life off the sidewalks’
The Great Bike Giveaway is an annual sweepstakes organized by Friendship Circle, a Michigan-based nonprofit that helps folks with special needs. Eleven types of adaptive bikes are being given away based on voting. There’s also a fundraising component for all participants, where voters can donate as well as cast a ballot.
The Zimerlas registered for the JOSI Stroller, a customized, three-wheel bicycle trailer which has a retail price of about $6,500. They’ve been rallying supporters to vote before the March 18 deadline, and in the process, their voters have donated $3,000 and counting. If Miles doesn’t win the bike through voting, they’ll be a good chunk of the way there toward purchasing it.
“It would get him out and about, to be able to live life off the sidewalks,” Sosdian explained. “Not everything is paved. He could go to places like the Cape May Zoo and Popcorn Park Zoo, and navigate through sandy areas. It would give him the mobility to go places his wheelchair doesn’t allow.”
All that would be much harder in a regular wheelchair.
“My other two kids (including younger sister Ava May) play soccer, and Miles comes to soccer with us,” Melissa Zimerla said. “We go to Island Beach State Park or Seaside Park, where the beach has accessible ramps.”
Melissa credited the Manchester Township police department for promoting the cause on social media, and said she is so surprised and grateful for the outpouring of support.
This summer, she said, her family plans to volunteer with Beach Days for All, a Shore-based nonprofit that promotes better beach access for people with mobility issues.
“We want to give back as much as we can,” she said, “because that’s what communities do.”
To vote for Miles Zimerla in the Great Bike Giveaway, or to donate toward his family’s purchase of an adaptive bike, visit www.greatbikegiveaway.com/MilesZimerla.
