Beloved Bicycle Returned to New Bedford Man With Spinal Disease

NEW BEDFORD — It’s sort of a happy ending for Perry Leduc, the 24-year-old man who suffers from spina bifida and had his beloved bicycle stolen early Sunday morning.

After we featured his story on Sunday, and through his own efforts on social media, the story spread across the SouthCoast that Leduc’s bicycle had been stolen out of the back of his cousin’s truck on Allen Street Sunday.

The bicycle is the only way Leduc, who has had 31 spinal surgeries and his right leg amputated, can get himself around.

Leduc tells Fun 107 that Monday afternoon, the bicycle popped up for sale on Craigslist. A couple of Leduc’s friends emailed the seller, and Leduc went with them to get the bicycle back. He said he paid the $50 the seller was asking just to get it back and be done with the whole situation.

He said he did file a police report, and called them to let them know he was buying his bike back.

“I need to go down in the morning,” he said. “They want to see what we can do about prosecuting, because the officer who helped me was a cyclist and was really unhappy, too.”

While Leduc is reunited with his bike, there’s still a downside; he said the thieves did over $300 in damages that he has to fix.

“They destroyed both of the wheels and bend the handlebars along with the tires,” he said. “The wheels are skinny and get bent out of shape really easily, and they’re not able to roll right now.”

The good news is, there are multiple people who set up crowdfunding campaigns to purchase Leduc a new bike, should he fail to get his own one back. Hopefully, some of those donations can be used for the repairs.