Theft victim Xzavier Notman-Jovanovic and family didn’t expect generosity of the Albany Community

When three-year-old Xzavier had his bike stolen from his house in December, his family did not expect the generosity of the Albany community. After his mum Nicole Notman-Jovanovic posted on Facebook asking for help to locate the stolen bike, a good samaritan offered to gift a replacement bike to Xzavier and the family on New Year’s Eve. A few days later Xzavier’s stolen bike was found by members of the Lower King Community and returned to the family. Now with two bikes, the family plan to donate the new bike to a local organisation passing the holiday spirit forward. Ms Notman-Jovanovic said Xzavier was very grateful to Albany’s very own Santa who helped replace the bike. “I didn’t want to sell the new bike, give it to a second-hand shop and they sell it. “I wanted it to go to someone who was in need. “So we rang around to a few places and found an organisation that we are going to drop the bike off to them. “We wanted to pay it forward.’’ With Xzavier’s brother Leon suffering from a medical condition and the family of six kids in the middle of the busy holiday period, the bike theft was one more stress the family did not need. “Leon, Xzavier’s brother, has benign enlargement of the subarachnoid spaces, so he has a build-up of spinal fluid around his brain, so if he hits his head in a certain spot it could kill him,” Ms Notman-Jovanovic said. “In December we were up and back from Perth constantly, we just didn’t have the money or the time to get him a new bike. “Xzavier really enjoys riding his bike so he can have a little more freedom. “He’s not being told he can’t do something or to be careful around his brother. “He can get on his bike and just ride and he does, very fast.”