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Four-year-old Luis Tamarez was born with cerebral palsy. This congenital disorder means that Luis constantly suffers from muscle, movement, and coordination problems.
For his entire short life, Luis hasn’t been able to get around by himself. He’s either had to crawl or be pushed around in a wheelchair.
Luis’ mother wants nothing more than to be able to give her son the ability to move, but she doesn’t have the money to afford any sort of treatment.
That’s when Luis’ pre-K class learned about a device called the Upsee. This device straps children into a harness that is attached to an adult’s legs. It allows children to experience the sensation of standing up straight and walking.
For someone like Luis, who has never been able to stand up, being able to have this experience would be incredible.
Unfortunately, the Upsee costs $500. No one in Luis’ class – not the teachers nor any parents – could afford to purchase the device, so they decided to host a fundraiser to raise the money needed.
But they ended up not having to host the fundraiser at all.
Yorel Browne, a regular substitute teacher for Luis’ class who also works as an Uber driver, kept talking about his experience with Luis and his cerebral palsy. During one of Browne’s shifts as an Uber driver, he ended up chatting with a local businessman, Jim Burke, about Luis’ situation.
Burke immediately decided: he would pay the full $500 to buy Luis the Upsee. There was no need to wait for the fundraiser.
“It was a no-brainer. It touched me. It didn’t even take a split second. It was a very easy decision,” Burke explained later of his decision.
It wasn’t long until the device arrived, to great excitement, at Luis’ classroom. And when the boy finally took his first steps (while attached to a classroom aide, Collins Days), there wasn’t a single dry eye in the room.
No one was happier than Luis.
As for Burke, everyone tells him he changed Luis’ life – but he believes it’s the other way around. “I gave $500 and got a million dollar smile,” he said through tears.
You can watch Luis take his first steps here:
