Free wheelchair costumes, including one made by a 3D printer, were given to seven kids with muscular dystrophy (MD) at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego.
It was so great to work with the amazing talent at @DanglingCarrot3 and @MonsterCities on this wonderful project.
Congratulations to the 7 kids who received Magic Wheelchairs.
Anything is possible with #LargeFormat3DPrinting — even a X-Wing #MagicWheelchair. pic.twitter.com/WqBDCAlwgi— Massivit 3D (@Massivit3d) July 22, 2018
The costumes, which were given by the non-profit organization Magic Wheelchair, featured spaceships and characters that originated from Star Wars movies. After each child received a costume, they had a parade, which drew tons of attention from convention attendees.
Lisa! Magic Wheelchair as Kylo Ten’s TIE Silencer! All for a good cause too! @LisaRemillard @MagicWheelchair @Comic_Con @starwars #sdcc #sdcc2018 #STARWARS pic.twitter.com/DHXR6mNvdj
— Warren (@ChllnW_) July 21, 2018
In order to make the seven costumes, Magic Wheelchair collected more than $25,000 through a fund-raising website. They also recruited more than 10 companies and organizations to take part in building the wheelchair costumes.
Massivit 3D, one of the builders, used a 3D printer to create an “X-Wing” spaceship costume.
Ryan Weimer, who founded Magic Wheelchair, said that ten years ago he had this idea to make a Halloween wheelchair costume for his son, who suffers from MD. He turned his son’s wheelchair into a pirate ship, which gained a lot of local attention.
“When Keaton was three years old, he had a powered wheelchair. Halloween rolls around and he wants to be a pirate. I was looking at his wheelchair and thought, ‘Man, we could build a ship around this chair,’ so we did.” And that night, magic happened: https://t.co/a5fg5GLnOg pic.twitter.com/3BHHLMyCat
— Crazy Good Turns (@CrazyGoodTurns) March 15, 2018
Since then he started to make more wheelchair costumes, not only to make kids happy, but also to raise public awareness of Muscular Dystrophy. Gradually, he had more and more people join him.
Meet Ryan Weimer – Man behind a new league of Superheroes, Founder @MagicWheelchair Keizer, Oregon – Click to read the full story #TUB #Founder @jaithote https://t.co/zDbTmPa5kO pic.twitter.com/JLowUNi1oM
— The Ultimate Bosses (@Tub_Asia) April 11, 2018
.@SOLIDWORKS is happy to sponsor the @MagicWheelchair organization, which builds epic costumes for kiddos in wheelchairs at no cost to families. https://t.co/TvyQz25uYl pic.twitter.com/WdtXzbIUuT
— SOLIDWORKS (@SOLIDWORKS) April 23, 2018
“There is this awkwardness surrounding disability. We built that first costume and the awkwardness just disappeared. People came right up to him, just treated him like a kid,” Weimer said.