St Michael and John’s Primary School of Horsham’s campaign to raise $11,000 to purchase a hand-pedal bike for nine-year-old student Ted Johnson has smashed its target. The most recent count put donations at $15,077. A Facebook post by the school had hundreds of shares and reached people as far as Western Australia.

“The excess funds will be gratefully accepted by the family to put towards Ted's next very costly prosthetic legs. We would like to sincerely thank everyone who donated or shared our post,” the school wrote in a social media post on Monday. 

“It was absolutely amazing to see how quickly our wonderful local community and beyond responded with the assistance of the Facebook community.”

Last week the Wimmera Mail-Times ran a story on Ted. It detailed how he had helped make the school community a better and more welcoming place through his attitude.

The Year Three student was born with a rare congenital condition known as Bilateral Tibial Hemimelia, which saw his parents make the difficult decision to amputate both his legs at an early age to ensure his quality of life.

Teacher Louise Chesterfield said Ted was very excited about receiving the bike, and that his mother was heading to Ballarat next week to test bicycles.

The next set of legs Ted will receive will be knee prosthetics to complement his blades. Ms Chesterfield said Ted only received one set of legs. Head to the school’s Facebook page @SMJHorsham to donate to the campaign.​