A 19-year-old woman living with cerebral palsy has been granted a Shine Dream to make university easier next year.
Nicole Mercado has big dreams for her future and will attend the University of Windsor in the fall for the English and Literature program as she aims to become an English teacher.
Mercado currently relies on a walker to get around, however, it is very tiring for her. She decided to go through the Shine Foundation - a national program that provides young people aged 11 to 21 living with severe physical disabilities with adaptive equipment - to receive a Jazzy Electric wheelchair.
This wheelchair is extremely lightweight, making it easy to pack into a vehicle, and to move around - valued at $4,000. The wheelchair is customized to Mercado and her needs to help her transition to university life.
Mercado was surprised with the new wheelchair on Wednesday afternoon at Motion - who partnered with Shine, along with the John McGivney Children's Centre, to make this donation possible.
She says since she was young, walking and balance has been her main problems.
"When I was walking it's hard for me, I can walk like 10 minutes... 5 minutes, and then I'd be exhausted. And then I get lost easily, so they told me campus is really big, so you need something to help you."
Mercado says the wheelchair will be very handy, not just for school.
"Not only in university because I'm planning to use it outside. I want to do more activities with my friends that I can't do before, like going to the mall, or shopping, then I can keep up with them with this."
Tiffany Houston, the CEO of the Shine Foundation, says each donation is slightly different depending on the need of the individual.
"Nicole had been really nervous about accessing her campus when she gets to university, so that's where it came from, that was her idea."
Mercado was surprised with the wheelchair alongside her family, and her care workers from the John McGivney Children's Centre.
Shine Dreams are fully customized and can range from meeting a hero, to adapted sports equipment.
Since its inception in 1987, Shine has fulfilled close to 9,000 Dreams for young people across Canada.