Hundreds of bikers help celebrate birthday of 10-year-old with autism

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Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Hundreds of bikers help celebrate birthday of 10-year-old with autism
Family friend Stephanie Lovejoy turned to Facebook to ask bikers to surprise Thomas for his birthday.

Bikers helped save the birthday of a Wisconsin 10-year-old after classmates failed to RSVP to the party.

Maranda Karna, mother of the birthday boy Thomas Karna, sent out invitations to 70 classmates, only to receive three RSVPs.

Thomas has autism and was born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, which required a lengthy hospital stay as a newborn.

Knowing that Thomas loves motorcycles, family friend Stephanie Lovejoy turned to Facebook to ask bikers to surprise Thomas for his birthday.

Lovejoy said on Facebook, "He has autism and I am making this post to invite all the bikers in the area to come and meet up and show him that he is not different and that he is loved just as much as everyone else."

To the surprise of the family, more than 300 bikers responded to the invitation by riding into Thomas' birthday.

Miranda Karna called the show of support "breathtaking."

"Words can not express how much this means to me and his dad," Maranda Karna told ABC News. "It's been hard on him as his autism affects him socially and emotionally. Also battling other health issues stemming from a birth defect. It's encouraging to see a community come together and show him the same thing that we try to teach him every day."

Thomas said of his birthday surprise to WISN, "It makes me feel like one of the most special people on earth."