Sandy and Jeffrey Hendrickson of Starwood, Washington hit the nail on the head when they appropriately named their youngest child Legend. At only 5 years old Legend has already proven to be a true survivor and champion when it comes to overcoming the impossible.
Legend gets ready to go for a ride on his new custom adaptive bike with his dad and pup.
When Legend was 2 years old, he and his family moved into a new home an hours drive north of Seattle, Washington. The new, spacious home was large enough for the family of 5 and offered some cool features not found in a typical home, like an exotic koi fish pond.
“On the 2nd day of being moved in Legend was in the backyard that had a koi fish pond and he was throwing fish food in with his brother,” Sandy told us. “He fell in and his brother Pistol ran in to tell my husband.”
Jeff, Legend’s father, had just stepped away for a moment to place lunch in the oven for his kids when the accident occurred. Although it only took a few seconds for Legend to become submerged in the shallow pond, it took over 30 minutes for first responders to get a pulse.
Legend was airlifted to Seattle Children’s where he spent the next 100 days before being discharged to go back home. While Legend’s parents watched over him in the hospital during the long stay, their incredible friends and family not only made sure their other two children were safe but they appropriately permanently filled and covered the koi pond.
A few years removed, Legend continues to make his parents proud as he makes progress in his recovery. “He loves any kind of loud and annoying noise you can think of,” Sandy tells us. “He loves when his big sister talks to him in a high pitch voice. He just giggles away!”
As much as Legend continues to move forward, something was missing that insurance wouldn’t fund: an adaptive therapy bicycle. Holton’s Heroes was able to gift a custom-made adaptive bike to Legend and his family.
“Every kid gets to go through the experience of learning to ride a bike and riding around the neighborhood with your friends,” Sandy told us. “Now he can use his bike for some physical therapy to help with his range of motion in his ankles and ride with his brother and sister!”
“ It means a lot to our family to have organizations like Holtons Heros because insurance does not always agree with what is best for our kids to be as normal as possible.”
On Father’s Day in 2017, 2-year-old Josiah was running around his home, excitedly zooming from room-to-room , as he typically did. However, in a matter of seconds he managed to elope out of the back door undetected and make his way to the family pool. Read Josiah’s amazing tale of recovery now.