Bike gift brings joy

Lynette Hayward-Byrd said her daughter saw two teenage boys steal the bike “in broad daylight” while she was attending a going-away party for a colleague at the Yarmouth Hospital.

“He really loved his bike. It’s the only outdoor activity he ever did,” said Hayward-Byrd.

“He’d ride around and around that trailer park with a big smile on his face. When the bike was stolen he was crushed.”

The bike was a bright yellow, 24-inch, 18-speed Sport-tech bought two months ago at Zellers for close to $150.

The family drove to the rural detachment and reported the theft. Over the next week they put posters up in the neighbourhood and delivered flyers.

Originally from Bonavista, Newfoundland, mother and son arrived home last Friday afternoon and were sitting in the car leafing through their favourite magazine ‘Down Home’.

“We looked up and I said, Oh my God, Josh, there’s a bike!” said Hayward-Byrd.

A second-hand boy’s bicycle in good condition was leaning up against the trailer.

“We don’t know who gave it to him. My husband heard someone knock on the door but by the time he got there they had left,” said Hayward-Byrd.

She says Joshua is extremely grateful to their anonymous benefactor.

“It’s a really, really nice bike and he’s been out riding around on it. We are just so thankful to whoever left it!”