SPOKANE, Wash. — One of the biggest stories that came out of Bloomsday last year was two local boys who went viral while they were going up Doomsday Hill.
Except, they weren’t running. They were wheeling.
"The next morning my mom was like, ‘You were on the news.’ I was like, ‘What?’ I didn’t even know people took pictures of us," reflected Aiden Youngblood on the experience.
Soon people around the world not only knew, but saw, Aiden and his friend Darren Ugolini traversing up Doomsday Hill.
The video inspired emotion, even from the people who see the two kids overcoming the odds every day.
"Tears," said Aiden's mom, Jacquelynn LeDay, on her reaction to seeing the video. "He does a lot that just sparks tears of joy. I couldn’t believe it. It’s something that I couldn’t even do, and I’m an able-bodied adult."
The video impacted a lot of people, and watching that impact also impacted the boys and the people around them.
"I didn’t realize it went viral. I thought it was just me watching it a hundred times," said Darren's mom, Crystal. "My parents saw it. They’re down in Georgia, and it made their news. To know that these two were inspiring a whole nation, it’s amazing to think about what they’re doing."
"It was an opportunity for me to tell him that there are people that see this who may have thought that they couldn’t do it, and now they might rethink that just because of seeing you do it," said LeDay.
"It was really fun. It made us proud," said Aiden of going viral.
"It made me kind of happy that people realize that disabled people can still do a lot of things," Darren said, chiming in.
The part of the video that resonated with so many was when Darren bumped Aiden's wheelchair from behind to help push Aiden up the hill. However, according to Darren's mom, he doesn’t see that moment like that.
"If you ask Darren, he doesn’t think that he was pushing Aiden to get up the hill. They were helping each other to get up the hill. That’s mostly how he talks about it. It was neat to watch the two of them work together for probably what was the hardest part of the race," said Crystal.
In a moment that they never realized the world would be watching, the duo made a statement: You can compete, but also help each other along the way.
They do want to make it clear though, there’s still a lot of competing.
"We always compete when we’re racing around here," said Darren. "We just keep it low key."