Latest news with #ChallengedAthletesFoundation
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Marysville teen surprised with sports prosthetic after losing leg in accident
An 18-year-old Marysville teen, who lost his leg a year and a half ago, was surprised with a running prosthesis during a free mobility & running clinic on Saturday. The prosthetic was given to Xavian Harris, who lost a portion of his right leg below the knee during a fireworks-related accident. Advertisement Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) and Össur, a prosthetic manufacturer, gifted Harris the prosthetic during a running and mobility clinic at Seattle University Park. Harris was a competitive wrestler who has returned to the sport after his accident and says he wants to return to running and swimming. Joined by U.S. Paralympic athletes and coaches, as well as U.S. Veterans, the clinic was created for people with lower-limb loss or limb differences who want to participate in fitness activities to help their mobility. For more information on the Challenger Athletes Foundation, visit
Business Upturn
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Business Upturn
Challenged Athletes Foundation Raises $1.1 Million at 2025 Celebration of Heart Gala to Empower Athletes with Physical Disabilities
San Francisco, CA, April 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) celebrated the spirit of resilience and community at its annual Celebration of Heart Gala on Friday, April 25, at the stunning Pier 27 in San Francisco. The evening raised an incredible $1.1 million in support of athletes with disabilities, surpassing the event's fundraising goal. With the theme 'Together, We Move,' the event welcomed more than 400 guests from the worlds of sports, business, philanthropy, and technology, united in their commitment to empowering individuals with physical disabilities through sport. The evening opened with an emotional and uplifting performance lead by soloists Breezy Bochenek, an athlete and cancer survivor who has been supported by the organization, and Robert Ring accompanied by a live choir, setting the tone for a night filled with inspiration and unity. Throughout the event, guests were moved by powerful athlete stories, dynamic live performances, and heartfelt remarks from CAF leadership and dedicated event co-chairs. Event Co-Chairs Kristin Roth DeClark and Karl Peterson; Allison Caccoma and Alan Shanken; and Lotte Toftdahl and Ryan Goldman helped lead the evening's success. On stage, Kristin, Karl, Alan, and Lotte energized the room with heartfelt remarks about CAF's mission and impact. 'This was a breakout year for Celebration of Heart — we truly advanced to the next level,' said Alan Shanken, Event Co-Chair and CAF Board Member. 'The success of this evening is a testament to the incredible teamwork, the dedication of our volunteers, and the undeniable need to fill a void in the Bay Area community. The impact CAF is making here is incredible from funding grants and hosting adaptive sports clinics to creating an inclusive and supportive environment for athletes. Thanks to tonight's generosity, even more individuals will have access to the resources and encouragement they need to thrive.' Highlights of the program included the inspiring journeys of Mack Johnson, who shared how CAF supported his path from a life-changing injury to collegiate wheelchair basketball — and now, how he is giving back by mentoring other athletes and welcoming them into the CAF community. Guests were also moved by 7-year-old double amputee Micah Magaña's thriving journey as a CAF-supported athlete, with heartfelt remarks from his father, Saúl Magaña, about CAF's life-changing impact on their family. 'CAF has been life-changing for our family,' said Saúl Magaña, father of 7-year-old Micah. 'It's more than just sports — it's a community that lifts you up.' A spirited paddle raise, led by renowned auctioneer Lydia Fenet, ignited the room with energy and generosity, helping propel the 2025 Celebration of Heart Gala past its $1 million fundraising goal. The incredible generosity of the evening will fuel CAF's mission, providing grants for adaptive sports equipment, coaching, and competition expenses — empowering individuals with physical disabilities to live active, independent, and fulfilling lives. The night culminated in a lively dance party, a powerful celebration of how far a united community can move together. There is still time to donate to the event to support challenged athletes in the Bay Area and beyond. Visit to contribute to CAF and its programs. Click here for media images About Challenged Athletes Foundation The Challenged Athletes Foundation® (CAF) stands as a global leader in empowering individuals with physical disabilities to embrace vibrant, active lives. CAF firmly believes that engaging in physical activity fosters self-esteem, encourages independence, and enriches the quality of life. CAF has been at the forefront of the adaptive sports movement for more than three transformative decades, catalyzing change and redefining possibilities. Since its inception in 1994, CAF has raised over $191 million and fulfilled 52,000+ funding requests from people with physical disabilities across all 50 states and more than 70 countries, impacting another 60,000 individuals annually through its outreach efforts. From providing essential equipment like handcycles to offering mentorship and encouragement, CAF's mission is clear: to provide opportunities and support to those who aspire to lead active, athletic lifestyles. To learn more, please visit # # # # Attachment Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same.
Forbes
21-03-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
An Ardent Irishman's Quest For A More Inclusive Mountain Bike
The Project Mjolnir adaptive MTB design is showcased at Idaho's Challenged Athletes Foundation ... More Mountain BIking Program in 2024. Noel Joyce is an ex-military guy from Tullamore, Ireland, who now lives in Shanghai and teaches for the NYU branch there. He was paralyzed from the chest down in a mountain biking crash back in 2006. He found himself confined to a wheelchair yet nonetheless wanted to get back out on the trails. But he discovered that the existing products available for that purpose were less than optimal. An industrial design professor by trade, he took the bull by the horns. Enlisting the help of his students, he put together his own open-source modular design for an e-assist full-suspension hand-crank tricycle MTB. Yes, it does sound like the script of a movie the guys from RiffTrax could have some fun with. But it's also true. And it all comes together in the work Joyce calls Project Mjolnir. 'I was involved with bikes from very young age,' Joyce told me in an interview. 'Just loved tinkering with bicycles and messing around with them.' That passion led him both to work for a time in a bicycle shop and to fall in love with riding. It was during his first real career–the one with the Irish military–after he had been deployed overseas in Africa for five years that tragedy would strike. 'I had my accident mountain biking that left me confined to a wheelchair, yeah?' he explained. 'And I finished that career, and that's when I went back and I studied industrial design with no clue what industrial design was.' He quickly discovered what it was all about. 'How do we turn a new technology into a customer facing thing, or something that people understand and use?' he said. 'That's the kind of work I tried to do with my students here… That's great that there's a new technology, but how do you explain it to someone? How can you make it into a form that people can use every day? How do you close the gap in the imagination? And the other part of what I teach students about is learning about disability as a driver for innovation. Sure, and the reason being, not just my own selfish reasoning and interests, but we all end up in that category at some stage.' Trying to get back onto the trails Everything would start to come together when Joyce decided to try to get back onto his beloved mountain bike trails and discovered that the 'solutions' on offer for people like him were less than ideal. 'So I had a very simple bike… a rigid-frame affair with 26-inch mountain bike wheels,' he said. 'I started to take this out onto the trail, and I kept breaking it.' A prototype displays some of the mechanical complexities involved in the Project Mjolnir design. Looking for a better solution, he quickly ran into other big roadblocks. 'I had some ideas of what I wanted to do, and I'd seen some bikes that existed, but they're in the region of $20,000 to $25,000. Like, regular mountain bikes are insane money, but adaptive equipment is just another level again. You can imagine how inaccessible the sport is to anyone with a disability.' Joyce discovered that even the high-end offerings were easily broken and cost-prohibitive to repair. So he did what any self-respecting industrial designer would do and set out to solve the problem for himself. Building a better mousetrap It was the way he went about it that set him apart. He focused on both functionality and affordability, using standard-dimension components, parts that could be readily machined, and assemblies that bolted together to facilitate repair. He added an electric motor assist because, as he pointed out, steep hills and a hand crank drive don't much like each other. Along the way he enlisted the support of Autodesk, designing his machine in their Fusion software. Most important of all, he made it open source so anyone could add to and improve the original designs or completely redesign it for other forms of accommodation. Noel Joyce and his students work on a prototype of the adaptive MTB. 'So the goal was to contract the time it takes to repair a bike to the same as what would be for a regular bike, and then to try and do that by making it open source and allowing it to be something that anyone could build and try to get the cost down as well, to a third of what other bikes were costing,' Joyce explained. 'My belief is that no one should have to go and look for funding, or do Go Fund Me, or try to get grant aid to buy a bike, to do a sport, to do an activity that's a hobby. Yeah, because they already have to spend a lot of money on a regular wheelchair, adaptations that they might need in a home.' Joyce's work has already garnered him some big fans. His sponsors at Autodesk are completely won over. Mary Hope McQuiston, their VP of education experiences, shared her thoughts with me via email. 'Noel's story is a testament to technology's power in unlocking creativity, fostering empathy, and driving meaningful change,' she said. 'Using Autodesk's Design and Make Platform, Noel embraced open-source design to truly democratize innovation. Through his work across the NYU network, he has made sure that students across disciplines gain the skills to tackle real challenges for real people. When knowledge is shared openly–across university networks and beyond–the potential for positive change is limitless. And when students gain hands-on experience with the same technology that industry professionals are using, they strengthen their durable skills that will connect the next generation to meaningful, impact-driven careers." Kari Byron of Mythbusters fame is another supporter. She learned about Joyce through Autodesk thanks to their sponsorship of her STEM education efforts with her new company EXPLR. She recently hosted him on her 'Office Hours' livestream show. Connecting with me via both email and an interview, she said, 'He's pretty awesome. I mean, I'm a bicyclist as well… Creating solutions for inclusivity for the outdoor industry opens up an entirely new market. It will also boost existing products sales. Gloves, gear, and all the accessories that are part of every outdoor sport will benefit. Everyone should have the incredible experience of the natural world and all it has to offer. I mean, I like how adaptable it is, because we know that everybody has sort of a different interface issue when it comes to the physical challenges. 'I liked that he was able to pivot quickly with his designs to make it accessible to people,' she continued. 'Just being able to include people out in the outdoors is such a difficult task, and to be able to accommodate is so cool.' The designs Joyce and his students have developed have come a long way since he started, 'I love it,' he said of the current iteration. 'It's lighter. We've done lot of cool stuff with camber at the rear, changing up some stuff around motor position, weight position. What's super-interesting about adaptive mountain bikes is I feel like they're at the point where regular mountain bikes were in the late '90s. We've managed to get them down to about €8,000, maybe less than $9,000, to build.' The full-suspension MTB trike in action. What comes next Joyce is currently focused on further refining his design and enlisting support from additional sponsors and fellow designers alike. Meanwhile, he's also promoting adaptive MTB build sessions and outreach events across the world, including far-flung spots like his current home in Shanghai, his boyhood home in Ireland, Mongolia, the U.S., Abu Dhabi, and so on. He's also looking to the future. 'One of the things I think about is, how do we design the first adaptive mountain bike for the Paralympic Games? Adaptations that we can do with current bike technologies are super-important. I see voice-activated shifters that can help my friend who's a quadriplegic, you know, all these different things we're reimagining, the adaptation of that piece of technology that goes beyond what people might even realize they're doing it for… Yeah, it's a bit of a reach and a bit of a wild one. But we need these dreams, right?'
