Vivian Riveria

What would it be like to go from a shoelace view of life to a "Hey! I can see out the window" perspective? That's what two-year old Vivian Riveria discovered when she went from crawling to pushing herself in her very own custom-fitted wheelchair.

Born in Guatemala with spina bifida, Vivian traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan compliments of Healing the Children of Michigan. In Michigan, she received several surgeries to close her exposed spinal column. Her host family wanted to buy Vivian a wheelchair, but couldn't afford the costly piece of equipment.

They had heard about Alternatives in Motion, and submitted an application on Vivian's behalf. Unbelievably, within two weeks of their request, Vivian had her chair.

But the story doesn't end there.

Six years later, little Vivian had grown! In fact, she had grown out of her old wheelchair. Johnnie Tuitel said, "Alternatives in Motion has a policy that if we provide a person a chair, and the person outgrows the chair or the chair breaks down, we'll purchase another one. We feel responsible for the mobility needs of the people we help."

And so, when it was time to upgrade Vivian's chair, she flew back to Grand Rapids. Through the generosity of several organizations, she returned to Guatemala with new mobility and independence.

And that's the perspective from which she now sees life.