Ambient music plays throughout.
A woman, Lindsey Barth, steps into her home gym and climbs onto a Peloton bike. She selects a “30 min Country Ride” on the monitor and hits start.
A blue box slides into the bottom left of the screen containing white text.
ONSCREEN TEXT: Shawnee, Kansas
She taps her smartwatch on the Peloton monitor as the trainer speaks.
TRAINER: We’ve got a four-minute warm-up…
The beat of the music quickens. Now, Lindsey cycles on the Peloton, adjusting the resistance and stretching her arms. Lindsey narrates over a view of her working out.
LINDSEY: To be able to work out and stay strong and healthy for Penelope, I have to be physically fit. This is going to benefit us both in the long run. I was given that gift and that ability to move.
The music fades. Now, Lindsey props a pillow under Penelope’s head as the toddler lies on her back. An oxygen tube is fitted into Penelope’s nose. Lindsey’s husband, Stefan Barth, sits beside her in their living room.
LINDSEY: Alright, Penelope bean, let’s get one of your toys out.
Lindsey holds a xylophone toy and Penelope gazes up at it.
LINDSEY: We say seventy-five percent of Penelope’s first year of life, she was in the hospital. Penelope was three and a half months early. She has what’s called severe intractable epilepsy. We were actually in the NICU during COVID.
Ambient music plays. Lindsey and Stefan look through baby photos of Penelope. Lindsey holds one up of Penelope without an oxygen tube.
LINDSEY: The first time that we’ve really seen her without respiratory support, without feeding tubes on her face.
Lindsey clips Penelope into a baby carrier.
LINDSEY: Penelope’s care is 24/7. We tag-team Penelope and we do what she needs on a day-to-day basis.
A blue box slides into the bottom left of the screen containing white text.
ONSCREEN TEXT: Lindsey Barth
Penelope’s mother
LINDSEY: But, especially as a parent of a medically complex kid, you have to spend time to yourself and, like, don’t forget your identity. Over the past two and a half years, that’s been really, really, really difficult.
In the gym, Lindsey sits on her Peloton and selects a workout.
LINDSEY: Through work, I was able to get a Peloton. I had seen the Epilepsy Foundation actually post about an upcoming challenge for riding one-hundred-and-twenty-six miles in the month of June, and I felt it was a good way to commit myself to getting on the bike.
Lindsey interviews sitting at her kitchen counter.
LINDSEY: I rode over one-hundred-and-thirty miles.
The screen splits into three views of Lindsey working out on her Peloton.
LINDSEY: The challenge was really important to me because I was doing it for Penelope. So, knowing that it was for the Epilepsy Foundation, I committed to that challenge, but to me it was a commitment to Penelope.
The split screen switches to images of Lindsey caring for Penelope on the couch. Then, Stefan interviews as he sits on the couch.
STEFAN: We have to be physically fit too, to be able to move her around and to carry her.
A blue box slides into the bottom left of the screen containing white text.
ONSCREEN TEXT: Stefan Barth
Penelope’s father
LINDSEY: We didn’t even know how to change an eight-pound baby’s diaper, and then we were thrown into changing a one-pound baby’s diaper.
A pink piece of construction paper shows the imprint of baby Penelope’s feet. A small diaper sits beside it. Lindsey cares for Penelope on the couch beside a piece of medical equipment.
LINDSEY: She’s almost thirty pounds now, but doesn’t have head control, doesn’t have trunk control.
Sitting beside Penelope on the couch, Lindsey talks to her daughter.
LINDSEY: Good job! That’s a big, old stretch face!
Lindsey interviews as the screen splits into four. In the upper left screen, her and Stefan play with Penelope. Beside that, a closeup shows Lindsey’s focused face as she works out. In the bottom left screen, Lindsey spins on her Peloton. In the bottom right, a closeup shows Penelope’s face.
LINDSEY: She’s only going to get heavier, and things are only going to get harder for me. I’m not taking time away from Penelope, I’m doing something that still involves her. I’m still doing something for her.
Lindsey works out on the Peloton in her home gym.
LINDSEY: Having it in our basement where I’m able to just ride at my own convenience is super important.
STEFAN: The Peloton allows Lindsey to have flexibility.
Lindsey and Stefan play with Penelope as she sits in her carrier.
LINDSEY: Good job Penelope!
LINDSEY: She’s opened up our eyes to a lot of different things. I have the ability to move my body. Every day I see Penelope struggle to do that. She’s not able to walk, she’s not able to move her body in the way that she wants to, and me staying active is for her. It comes back to Penelope at the end of the day.
Pictures of Lindsey, Stefan, and Penelope sit beneath a stylized board that reads, “This is us. Our life. Our Story. Our Home.”
A blue u-shaped logo appears against a white background, followed by text.
ONSCREEN TEXT:
UnitedHealthcare
Peloton
The music fades.