- [Narrator] Res Bob has volunteered becoming
a girl scout troop leader.
A single father to his daughter Maile,
and whereas Bob went to school to learn about sign language
and has been a volunteer/instructor for the past 10 years.
Teaching automotive for the Willie Ross School of the Deaf.
- [Woman] To coaching his daughter soft ball team,
the spring field city council recognized Bob--
- [Man] Spring field man who's working
to give back to the community.
- [Narrator] Whereas after been diagnosed
with a terminal neural degenerative.
- [Woman] Brain disease, and he only,
really doesn't even know how much longer have.
But you are making sure that the time
you have really counts.
- [Man] By fixing up old bikes, to give to kids in need.
- [Narrator] Bob started Pedal thru Youth,
a program designed to recondition bicycles
and donate them to local children in need.
Now therefore be it proclaimed,
that the Springfield Council honors,
recognizes and thanks, Bob Charlan for his zealous
dedication and commitment to the community.
- Thank you Council Host,
out of everything you've listed the most
important thing that I did is raise my daughter.
This little girl over here.
The only reason I was able to have that ambition
that drive to do that is because,
I was raised by my single father.
He took it upon himself to raise me and my sister
and he wasn't even my biological father.
And when, him and my mother got divorced
he stepped up to the plate and he says,
"You may not be my biologically
"but you're my son no matter what."
Through out my life, there has never been a single time
he ever referred me to as his step-son.
I was always his boy or his son.
And I have done the same for my daughter.
So I'm honored and humbled by the award.
But reality is I'm just a simple boy
that came from Upstate New york, I ended up here by chance.
So thank you everybody, I appreciate this.
My name is Bob Charlan, six months ago I was diagnosed
with neural degenerative disease.
Doctors say my brain is outta somebody who is at 90's.
I'm gonna die but I really don't care.
I'm living each day to the fullest.
To make the biggest impact on the youth of tomorrow.
- [Bob] My childhood my mother raised me for a while,
then she married my step-father Norman.
- He is my little boy, he always was .
- We grew up in a trailer, dads a construction worker,
mom was a stay at home mom at the time.
- My mother didn't wanna, she didn't wanna be a mom
or a wife anymore.
So my step-father took us and raised us.
And through his actions with me,
he taught me how to be a father.
- People say, "Hey you know Bob The Bike Man?"
And really it's my dad.
- What's up kid? - Hi.
- What are .
- Suit on, you know regular attire.
right.
I'm sleeping with my mother.
On the weekends he'll come and pick me up.
I'll spend the weekend with him.
Will go fishing or kayaking
then he'll drop me back off at home with my mother
and then, go from there.
Grandma called me like 4:30 this morning.
Saying happy birthday.
It was tough because I knew there was issues
when she was younger, with her mom.
I called the police a few times and nothing was ever done.
It wasn't until after a couple of local
Springfield Police that knew came over.
They said I had to meet my daughter.
And the police turned her to hospital
cause she had been raped.
That's the hardest thing I have ever dealt with.
The nine years old Maile came to live with me.
Dad 24/7 at that point.
- As soon as he became a full time parent,
like everything was about taking care of Maile.
Working as much as possibly can.
Getting her involved in all of those activities,
being there all the time.
- Girl Scout, base ball all that stuff
and he still worked and he still did the part time jobs.
He was better father than me, I tell ya.
- I was gonna pull off from my own sweat,
so I did every job that I could.
I've been at the garage at 17, 18 years.
I was a chef four nights a week.
And then I got a job as a bouncer.
And I did that every single weekend.
It wasn't about jerking up people and throwing them out.
I did it because I had to.
I did anything that I was good
at to make money to raise her.
- He was a a soft ball coach and girl scout trip leader.
A lot of the girl scout mom's were just like,
"Oh, who's that?"
Like he is a troop leader, like what else is he doing here.
That's just my dad.
I was at a bar for 19 years.
That's a career for a bouncer.
Most of the bouncers I knew they did it for a summer.
Or a college kids, big college kids football players,
they did it just to make some extra money for tuition
and I made a career out of it.
Just through being the guy that was there watching the door
guarding people, throwing people out.
I've had beer bottles hit over my head.
I was jumped a couple of times,
got hit with a base ball batt
at the back of the head.
There was a time I woke up in the hospital
with a pair of pliers sticking out of my head.
And all from working in bar.
2011 I had a minor stroke,
they found that I had what they call an arachnoid cyst.
My left Cerebellum about due to a concussion that I had had.
My hands started shaking my speech going off.
Lot of memory loss.
I couldn't even eat my food without my hands shaking.
Or I spill food.
Got more difficult at work.
My hands they became an embarrassment.
I didn't even go out public anymore.
I just went to work and came home.
Four different neurologists, I sent them everything,
I said, "Please just review all this stuff,
"and tell me something."
and then finally, when are all just on Boston.
He says "you know what 11 concussions
"on the left side of your brain.
"We believe you have a disease called CTE.
It's what football players and boxers
get from multiple concussions.
In 2011 they said my brain was outta some somebody
in his late 60's.
The last scan they did they said somebody
in his late 80's or really 90's.
Deterioration rate.
- I'm not gonna grow old with my brother.
And that's a difficult thing.
Knowing that it could be 10 years, it could be 15,
it could be 20, but we're not gonna be 90 together.
- You know I was the coach,
I was the troop leader of the sky.
You know i worked at the bar, I was the mechanic.
And now I'm, reduced to shaking and stuttering
and not walking right sometimes.
I mean my girlfriend and my daughter
were ashamed to be with me because I shook all the time.
One night I was supposed to go to a basket ball game
with my girlfriend and her daughter.
It was really bad that day.
I figured I could deal with it.
And then her daughter said," He is not
going with us, as if my friends are gonna see him."
I just, i came home.
I just came home.
I wasn't gonna be embarrassed with anybody.
I knew something had to change so I looked into
death would take in from rod,
because there is only five states that allow it.
I knew I was gonna die regardless,
so I at least wanted to get the ball rolling,
I figured if I could check out,
then I wouldn't be a problem to anybody.
You know my life insurance would still
pay out to my family.
My daughter as long as everybody was taking
of, it did matter to me at that point.
I went to remand, applied to death with dignity,
- I don't agree with it because it's parody,
but, we can't control his life.
It's his choice.
I can't, I don't, I'm done with it, No.
- The first day I was up there, my boss had found out
what I was doing, when I went up there.
You know he said, "What the hell are you doing?
"You know you are doing
"so much good for people."
One of my friends drove all the way from up state New York,
three and 1/2 hours just to sit and talk to me,
at the hotel.
- He is not a burden, not.
He has people here that love home and care for him.
And that are willing to help him.
He is a great father and a great man.
I'm sorry.
- He had texted me, that him
and Maile were going to Vermont and that he would be back.
- Yeah, there are a couple of bartenders
from the bar I worked for years,
and they seriously they just didn't care.
They said every meals we'll take you out,
every single week that we are gonna
take you out every week, there's no way
we are gonna let anybody be ashamed of you.
You gotta give me a minute.
- Nobody should ever be made to feel
that they should just go and die.
♪ This is a night goodbye, ♪
♪ When I close my eyes ♪
♪ I'm watching the sunrise ♪
♪ This is not the end ♪
- I don't care whether I'm sick anymore
and honestly I don't care whether I'm gonna die.
Because we are all gonna die at some point.
And I joke about it, I say I'm in the express lane,
I'm in the 12 items or less lane
and that's okay.
Because now everyday until I do go,
I'm gonna make a difference.
♪ NO fear ♪
♪ freedom is mine ♪
♪ uuu I'm alive No ♪
- [Woman] Its a story that 22 News
has been covering for weeks.
Bob Charlan
Is terminally ill and has devoted
whatever time he has left to repairing
and donating bikes to kids in need
here in Western Massachusetts.
- [Woman] And now Bob The Bike Man
has expanded his mission.
- [Woman] Tell me why are you doing this?
What's the motivation?
- Why not.
Why not do it.
- I feel like you are the manliest guy I have ever met
and yet at the same time one of the softest.
- I don't know about that, this is my bay.
All magic happens in here I guess.
All these came from donations from people.
Once the news started hitting about three months ago.
- How big do wanna get it?
- As big as I can.
If I could go worldwide, I would go world wide.
- [Woman] So first of all tell us what is happening today.
- [Bob] We're donating 30 bikes to Lawrence School
in Holyoke at 6pm.
And what's good about that is these kids
that are getting this bikes are living homeless
shelters with their families.
- [Man] Yep, those are going,
these ones going, yeah that's it.
(car engine roaring
- [Interviewer] What was it that made you,
decide to start doing this?
- Bikes are easy, I mean I'm a full time mechanic
that's what I do, it's build things and fix things.
- [Interviewer] Did you have any expectations?
- [Bob] I had no expectations, it was just time.
It's all it was, my time.
- [Interviewer] But your time, is more limited than most.
It's your most valuable asset that you're giving.
- I don't look at it that way.
I know that I'm making a difference now
and I could see it.
In the faces of every kid that I donate a bike to.
I started getting cards and letters from the kids
in the school, "Thank you Mr.Bob for my bike
"it's fast."
"Thank you for the bike, I share it with my brother
"sister at home, because they don't have bikes."
I had a grandfather come up to me and say, "Thank you
"so much for what you did."
He goes, "I'm raising my two grand-kids, we would have never
"had the money to buy bikes for the kids."
It made me realize this is something I have to do.
I'm gonna keep doing this.
- [Man] That's all of them?
- That's it, there should be 40 something total.
- [Bob] Did you see the bell on it?
- [Boy] Thank you Bob.
- Your welcome, enjoy it.
You are very welcomed.
It's just a bicycle.
It's the simplest thing in the world as bicycle to a kid.
- I got to finally give myself my own bike
that's big enough for me.
- But it is also freedom to a kid.
It gets them off the couch, gets them outta the house.
It lights their world up. - I'm so excited.
- [Bob] I know right.
This is why I do this.
You know maybe others should think about something like this
in their town, I don't know,
but, you can hope, right?
You can always hope.
I used to fear death.
For years, it was one thing that scared me the most,
since I was afraid of dying.
The kids are our future not me.
So that's why I don't fear death anymore, I know I changed.
I changed the world in some way.
- I feel like staying dark because he is outstanding.
I'm proud of him, I really am.
I don't think he realizes that.
- The big difference between my father
and I is, he never got into youth groups, sports,
stuff like that.
It was very difficult
just to get him to go at my base ball games
or even throw the ball with me.
Because his life was about work
and providing for the family.
So he regress that he didn't more fun stuff of a peer.
- [Interviewer] You asked him to join you out the camp side
or anything like that?
- Dads got hypoxemia, I know it would be difficult for him.
- So you never asked him?
- No, I mean, when I was a kid he always told me,
"One of this summers, it's just gonna be you and I,
"we are gonna go camp together, just two of us."
it never happened, but that's okay, you know.
- [Interviewer] Let's go.
I know we pulled you away from a lot of work .
- [Bob] Yeah, you did .
- [Interviewer] Hopefully it was worth it.
I just respect you so much as a man
and how hard you've been working.
But I think that this idea of regret,
it's something that no one should have.
And I wanted to make sure you had a chance
to do something with your dad.
- [Bob] Holy bleep!
- Hey bud.
We figured it's about time we had sometime
all by ourselves.
No wives no brakes, come here.
- So Bob you give so much your life
and your time and your energy to the rest of the world.
- Yeah it's because I'm supposed to, that's my job.
- No this is not your job, your job is living your life.
- Yeah but I did it good, didn't I?
- Oh damn good, yes you did.
Although above and beyond- - I did not worry about you.
- oh no.
I just got a start asking you, if I do worry about you
pass me a long time ago.
- He is the reason I am who I am.
- [Bob] You are going in the water in those things.
- [Norman] I wasn't planning going in the water, so wet.
- What?
This is how I look at my life, I'm one person.
I'm not expecting everybody to go out there
and do all the things I did.
I'm not saying, I want go out there and become a coach,
troop leader, just be a true parent.
Anybody can say, "That's my kid, oh I love them,
" I do this forum."
Do you spend time with them?
You show them that you love them?
You gotta show them.
With every single person's world did one thing.
If everybody just tried a little bit more,
gave a little bit more of themselves.
If the simple things that I do in life,
can show other people, that yeah if one man can do all
these stuff, I can do one thing, do it.
♪ Soul pancake subscribe ♪