Ryan Weimer’s son Keaton first was diagnosed with a type of muscular dystrophy as an infant, and since then, he had to use a wheelchair. And like every other task of his life, he also has to celebrate the Halloween in his wheelchair. Ryan wanted to build an epic costume for his child so that he doesn’t feel left out, and let’s just say that he has never disappointed his kid!
The first ever costume on wheels consisted of a pirate ship using the wheelchair as a base for the ship, and courtesy to that, Keaton was the talk of the neighbourhood streets as he rolled like a pirate. After his design being a hit, Ryan was inspired to create more and more ambitious costumes for every kid in a wheelchair – and soon enough he opened a company called Magic Wheelchair, which is a non-profit organisation making amazing Halloween costumes for children in wheelchairs.
Ryan has created costumes which consisted of monsters, a dragon from the film How To Train Your Dragon, and an elephant, which obviously has been a massive hit with the kids and the parents alike.
Ryan revealed that these concepts might look simple, but they can take hundreds of hours to make and the most elaborate of them can cost up to $4,000.
In 2015, Ryan along with his wife was successful in creating a Kickstarter campaign which generated funds to build five epic costumes for kids in wheelchairs. The process of picking those five lucky children included submitting a 1-3 minute video explaining why you should get the customised wheelchair.
Two of the children who were selected have asked for characters from SpongeBob SquarePants and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and it will be quite a sight to see how Ryan pulls this off! Of course, he can’t do it all by himself and takes the help of talented volunteers including students from the Stan Winston School of Character Arts.
Ryan hopes to use this incentive to spread smiles with the physically less fortunate children. He also hopes to raise awareness about muscular dystrophy and want to take this company to the level that it can help any kid who wants a wheelchair costume.
As its website elaborates, the Magic Wheelchair’s mission is “to put a smile on the face of every child in a wheelchair by transforming their wheelchairs into awesomeness created by our hands and their imaginations.”
What are your thoughts on this heart warming incentive? Comment below!