By Kevin Spradlin Cumberland Times-News
— CUMBERLAND — The tragic death of Bradley “B-Rad” Bridges in August at the YMCA skate park in Cumberland brought unabashed sympathy and support from friends, family and a virtual world of BMX.
“Damn, that sucks. Rest in peace, man,” one man wrote on a BMX website.
In the vernacular of avid BMXers, that just about covers it.
Lena Bridges, though, wants something positive to come from her son’s untimely death. Since Brad, 18, was killed after sneaking into the skate park after hours with five others on the night of Aug. 6, Lena Bridges has been raising money to buy bike helmets for kids who don’t have them.
The next fundraiser is a car wash at CiCi’s Pizza in LaVale from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday. The pizza place is participating in a spirit night from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, when proceeds from purchases will be donated to the effort. CiCi’s Pizza also is the site of a second spirit night from noon to 8 p.m. Oct. 3.
“When all the 200 kids came and lined their bikes up in front of the funeral home, I looked around, and only half of them had helmets,” said Bridges, of Cumberland, noting Brad had not been wearing his helmet at the time of the accident. “That, then, was my focus. I don’t want any other parent to have to feel the feeling that I’m feeling, the loss.”
Brad began riding a bicycle only in October 2009 after his 18th birthday. Until then, Bridges wouldn’t let her son, who suffered from an enlarged spleen, participate in many activities that might result in a rupture of the spleen.
However, “when he turned 18, he took up this hobby,” Bridges said. “He was riding with the kids to act like he was … a normal person.”
Bridges said she and family members know quite well that her son was not permitted to be at the YMCA. But knowing that does not lessen the pain of his death. Nor does it need to be the focal point of how Brad is remembered, she said.
“I’m not doing this because the kids were being bad,” Bridges said. “I’m doing this because kids in the area need helmets, and my son wasn’t wearing a helmet. They were just trying to have fun. I don’t care where he was at or what he was doing.”
Bridges noted the YMCA park was not their first choice. They were in downtown Cumberland, she said, but they were “chased off” by police officers four different times that Friday night.
The kids were just being kids, then, Bridges said, when they went to the skate park.
“They didn’t break in, like break a lock,” Bridges said. “They just went to ride a bike.”
In about a month of work, Bridges has raised nearly $1,300 and plans to soon order the first batch of 200 helmets. Each helmet costs $6.25, nearly $2 less than what the Allegany County Health Department charges.
Bridges said the helmets will be distributed free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis. The only requirements for recipients are that a child must complete a bike safety course and must be accompanied to that course by a parent. Bridges said she is working with an officer from the Cumberland Police Department to establish the program.
She’s hopeful the course and the advice of wearing a helmet, which is required for riders 16 and under in Maryland, will serve as friendly reminders to children and parents alike.
“Something could happen in the split of a second,” Bridges said. “If a child remembers some lady ‘told me I needed my helmet,’ then I’ve done something good.”
https://times-news.com/local/x124775265/Mother-keeps-son-s-memory-by-buying-bike-helmets-for-those-without-themoldId.20100925172924766
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