How chance encounter between longboarder and child turned into act of kindness

When April Lynn Parent went to have lunch with her family at a fast food restaurant in Dartmouth, N.S., she says she couldn't have predicted what happened next.

Lucas, her eight-year-old son who lives with autism, met a man with a longboard who would become his friend and mentor.

"It was all just a random incident that just propelled forward into this act of kindness. It was pretty inspiring … just to kind of witness it all happening," says Parent.

The man Lucas met is Johnny Johnson, a longboarder from Halifax.

Johnson had been skateboarding with his friend that day. They were taking a break at the restaurant when Lucas approached him and started asking him about his longboard.

"I explained to him the difference between a longboard and a skateboard and I got him quite excited just talking about it … I could see that he really wanted to learn," says Johnson.

Surprising interaction

Parent says Lucas doesn't typically notice people in his environment so the interaction surprised her.

"Lucas has a lot of, like, interests because he is on the autism spectrum," says Parent. "Longboarding hasn't been something that he's been exposed to. And he's not really been around people who are skateboarding."

For a few minutes, Lucas went back and forth between his table and Johnson's table, his curiosity growing with every conversation he had with Johnson. Johnson saw Lucas's interest and decided to give him a longboard.

"His eyes just lit up with excitement," says Johnson. "He didn't even want to leave me that day."

Johnson added Parent to his Facebook group "Longboard Halifax." They agreed to meet the next time Lucas, who lives in Yarmouth, was in Halifax.

Johnson posted on the Facebook group asking his friends for hardware he needed to build the board. Soon, three other longboarders, Jerry Howie, David Matyas and Julie Parent, volunteered to give Lucas elbow pads, a helmet, stickers and an additional set of wheels.

Not long after, Lucas and his mother came to Halifax for his appointment at the IWK Health Centre.

Apart from living with autism, Lucas has an autoimmune disease called Common Variable Immunodeficiency. The condition leaves the immune system unable to produce enough antibodies to fight infections.

Monthly antibody transfusion

Every month, he receives an antibody transfusion at the IWK that helps boost his immune system. He stays for a week at Ronald McDonald House.

That's where Johnson and his three friends gave Lucas his new longboard.

"He was like the Energizer Bunny almost — just not being able to sit in one spot, completely excited," says Johnson.

After teaching him how to use the longboard, Johnson promised Lucas that he would take him to the skating oval every time he comes to Halifax.

"He doesn't have the easiest week because he has a lot of appointments and a lot of hard work that he has to do to stay healthy," says Parent. "Now, he has these allies who want to just make this experience even better by just meeting up and skateboarding with him and it's amazing."

Johnson has been skateboarding since he was six. He says he saw a little of himself in Lucas.

"I want him to have the board for a chance to see if something that made me … and lots of other boarders happy, could possibly do it for him," says Johnson.

Lucas can't seem to get enough of his longboard.

'It's really cool to see'

"There's a carpeted hallway here at the Ronald McDonald House. And he's been practising leaning that Jerry showed him and like, yeah, it's really cool to see," says Parent.

Johnson's kind gesture will have a huge influence on Lucas's life.

"(It's) another way to develop positive relationships with people because that's hard for somebody with autism," Parent says.

She says this random act of kindness is proof that we shouldn't make broad generalizations about any group of people.

"Everyone has the opportunity to be a good person. (It) doesn't matter what you're doing or if you're a skateboarder or not."