Three-year-old McKade Daley has wanted a bike for almost a year.

In most cases, it's not a radical request for a growing boy to make. But unlike his peers, McKade can't just make a trip to the corner store with his parents; the Provo boy has spina bifida, a crippling birth defect that left his spinal cord underdeveloped and his legs unable to pedal a conventional bike. So when his mother, Natalie, got wind of his hopes, she knew it was going to be expensive. The customized device he would need would cost about $1,200 -- an insurmountable bill for someone in the midst of cosmetology school, she said.

"We couldn't afford to spend that much money on a bike," she said.

Natalie arranged a yard sale during the summer to raise money, but came up with only a few hundred dollars. Her mother pitched in some more. But at the end of the day, the family still faced a large funding gap. That's where some sneaky benefactors came in.

"We were just talking about her little boy," said Hayley Evans, a classmate at Mountainland Applied Technology College in Spanish Fork. "I just got this idea: 'Well, we could raise the money and build this bike.'"

Hayley said she tries to coordinate one service project every year -- a habit instilled by her parents when she was young. Though she's only been attending MATC for about 2 months, she said she felt a connection with Natalie and McKade and felt inspired to help. She approached her brother and his wife, Jamie and Terry Evans, who immediately agreed to donate $1,000 through their business, Evans Grader & Paving.

But the project didn't end there.

"December's the best time to give," Hayley said. "It's one time of year that you can honestly get away with being able to do something like that."

So she conspired with several classmates and their instructor, Shanna Clark, to arrange a "sub for Santa" drive at work. The class spent the week before Thanksgiving feverishly planning a fundraiser. They advertised that they were accepting donations from haircut clients for a family in need, but led Natalie to believe it was for someone else.

"I had no idea," she admitted.

The drive brought in an additional $700. All the while, classmates also solicited donations from local businesses. A family friend of Natalie's contributed another $500. Before long, the group had collected close to $3,000. Through it all, Natalie never caught on.

Her teacher, Shanna, said it was sometimes hard to keep the secret.

"I think she got three different stories from different people," she joked. "There was a few times when she was having a bad day that I wanted to tell her, 'We're doing this for you, so cheer up.'"

Finally, Hayley found Utah Trikes, a specialty shop in Spanish Fork willing to make a bike much better than the one the Daleys had originally wanted.

Owner Ashley Guy donated all the labor involved and contributed $300 more to the project himself. It was ready for the school's Christmas party on Tuesday.

Shanna said all the covert work paid off in the moment McKade's face lit up as the bike was revealed to everyone.

"It was awesome," she said. "He said, 'Oh, is that my bikefi It's beautiful.' We were all just crying."

Natalie said she was overwhelmed with gratitude when the Christmas plot was revealed.

"I never in my wildest dreams thought they would do this for my boy," she said. "Saying 'thank you' just doesn't seem like enough to me. It's just all so special."

As for McKade -- well, his actions speak loudest, his mom said. "His physical therapist came over today, and that was the first thing he told her: that he got a new bike," she said. "He can't wait to get out and ride on it."

• Ace Stryker can be reached at 344-2556 or astryker@heraldextra.com.