“In May 2024, when Bedford Erickson was 15 months old, just learning to walk, his pediatrician noticed something
wasn’t quite right about his gait. His parents, Jesse and Hollie, (from Illinois, US) expected a simple fix like braces.
Instead, an X-ray and further tests led to a diagnosis of ‘Schwartz-Jampel Syndrome’, a rare genetic disorder that
leaves Bedford’s muscles stiff and weak throughout his body, affects his bone development and locks his joints in
bent or extended positions. They were told only about 150 cases have been formally documented worldwide since
the 1960s.
Any parent can imagine the kinds of questions that flooded their minds. Hollie put it this way, “While the condition
isn’t life-ending, it’s life-changing”. What will his life look like? How will he cope? Bedford struggles to sleep and
has to kneel on his chair to eat because he can’t sit at a 90-degree angle. Bathtime, potty training, strapping
Bedford safely into a car seat, even playtime with his loving big brother, Linkoln, and much more, all had to be
reimagined.
At first, Hollie simply posted updates for family and friends. Then in July 2025, she shared a clip of two-year-old
Bedford, bravely inching over a street kerb with his walker while she encouraged him. No drama. Just a determined
little boy refusing to quit. The unscripted moment went viral and encouraged total strangers in their own battles.
“Meet you at the curb”, a phrase Hollie coined to describe Bedford’s daily determination to navigate spaces with
his walker that weren’t built for him became the sign-off on their posts, a challenge to their followers to face their
own kerbs in life.
As Bedford neared preschool age, Hollie, who works at Grace Christian Academy, realised the school playground,
wasn’t made for children with walkers or limited mobility. A non-profit, called ‘Unlimited Play’ which helps
communities design and build playgrounds where every child regardless of ability can play together, took up the
cause. Together, they raised $750,000, more than double the original goal of $350,000.
On 15 August this year, a few hundred people turned out in the rain to open ‘Bedford’s Playground at Grace
Christian Academy’, just in time for his first year at preschool.
“Everyday, this little boy does things most of us never have to think about. Things that are harder for him than they
should be. And yet he keeps going, finding joy, celebrating progress and showing up for the next hard thing.
Bedford reminds us that courage isn’t always loud, and strength isn’t the absence of struggle. Sometimes strength
is simply making it to the kerb, and deciding you’re going to keep going” (Heritage Films).
We’re not promised a smooth footpath, but we do have each other, and Jesus who walks the road with us, and
cheers us on as we run with perseverance the race marked out for us, sometimes, one stubborn curb at a time
(read Hebrews 12:1-3).
A fellow fisher of people,
Mark
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