Kuantan skateboarder gifts custom deck to special needs student who uses a skateboard for mobility (VIDEO)
KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 14 — Many were moved by a viral TikTok video last week of six-year-old wheelchair user Umar Hafiy Amir Hafizi using a skateboard to get around in school.
Among them was 35-year-old Kuantan skateboarder and skateboard shop owner Muhammad Zulkhairy Mohd Nor, who was so deeply moved by the preschooler’s difficulties to be mobile at school that he custom-made a brand new one and sent it to Umar who lives in Nibong Tebal, Penang.
“Watching Umar in his PASTI (Pusat Asuhan Tunas Islam) uniform, you would be sad too, even as a guy I was sad,” said Zulkhairy, in an interview with Malay Mail, describing how he felt watching Umar’s viral TikTok video that garnered over two million views.
“I knew it was a supermarket skateboard, so I gave him another skateboard with customised bearing, wheel, deck and grip tape, to raise his spirits and spur him on.”
Zulkhairy, better known as Joe, whose two-month-old daughter Puteri Ilya Zuhayra suffers from hydrocephalus, a condition of excess fluid in the brain, said that he reached out to Umar as a skateboarder and father of a special-needs child.
“As a skateboarder, when I saw a special-needs child using a skateboard that’s not suitable for him, I wanted to try and give him something to make him happy.”
Sure enough, a smiling Umar was seen lovingly caressing Joe’s skateboard he received three days ago in another TikTok video that showed Umar excitedly opening the special gift and giving it a test-run.
“You can see how happy he is with what I’ve given him, he uses that skateboard as transport to school and for his daily use,” said Joe, who added that he used a local Malaysian brand, Sibling Skateboards, owned by his partner Fuad.
Instead of using a regular skateboard grip tape, which feels like sandpaper, Joe used a US-made rubber grip tape which sticks on just as well but has a soft surface so it doesn’t hurt Umar to touch or sit on.
The special rubber grip tape usually takes about two weeks to be delivered but luckily, Joe’s friend Hafiz, who chipped in to make Umar’s skateboard, already had some in stock.
“The truth is that I did it for my daughter, not for the publicity,” said Joe who works full time for Pahang Water Management Berhad and runs his skateboard shop in the evening.
Joe, his wife Puteri Rozana Abdullah, 33 and their older daughter Puteri Izza Zulaikha, 2, are now caring for Baby Ilya after a recent surgery which inserted a tube into her brain so that the fluid goes straight to her intestines.
Baby Ilya, who is doing well, is scheduled for an MRI next week for a further checkup.
“So this is all for my daughter actually, I hope to get prayers from Umar and prayers from all Malaysians for my baby daughter.
“It was a gift sincerely given from my heart, for her.”
