At a very young age, Cole Geraghty was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy. The 8-year-old was sentenced to a wheelchair, making regular life difficult at times.
The neighborhood kids are always playing in the cul-de-sac, and Cole would join in the fun when he can. Unfortunately, his ability to play with his friends is limited by the disease, and it also applies to Halloween. Cole doesn’t have the freedom of exploration that the other kids take for granted.
This year, though, Cole was given a very special gift in the form of a Halloween costume. Mike Fernandez, a neighbor and family friend, put together a costume Cole can use with his wheelchair: an impressive TIE Fighter costume that could be attached to his chair. Nevertheless, Cole was ecstatic seeing his new costume.
“I said, ‘I could make a TIE Fighter for that chair,’” Fernandez told KUSA. “I make other things and I just thought I’d give it a try.”
It took Fernandez eight weeks to finish the build, but it was totally worth the look on Cole’s face. Even though h knew his neighbor was building him a costume, Cole had no idea what it was until Fernandez revealed his creation.
“He just took it upon himself to build this awesome thing for our son,” Stephanie Geraghty, Cole’s mom, said. “It really does mean the world to us.”
Stephanie said “Now he [Cole] think he’s even faster that he has this amazing Star Wars spaceship”. Cole was counting each days until Halloween ever since he got the costume in early October.
Finally, the big night comes and Cole is able to hit the streets with style. With a confident look on his face, he bragged to the KUSA reporter, saying that his top speed was 5 mph.
Fernandez said “Just his joy and his parents joy and seeing him have a fantastic time out, that’s really what it’s about, you know?”. He continued “Make sure that he gets to enjoy Halloween the same way that my kids get to enjoy it”.
“Nothing makes me happier than seeing Cole run around with his friends, having a blast and not really thinking about the fact that he does have a disease,” said Stephanie. “To him, I think that disappears when he’s playing with his friends.”
Cole is ready to zip around the neighborhood, trick-or-treating with the rest of the kids. He certainly didn’t take Fernandez’s work for granted, either.
When asked how he responded to the gift, Cole said “I kept saying, ‘thank you, thank you, thank you, I love it, I love it, I love it’”. He’s sure to remember this costume and act of kindness far beyond this Halloween season.
According to the news, Cole’s costume was so realistic it even fooled some of the local kids. At a Halloween event, they thought it was a display and tried to take some candy out of his pouch. Fortunately, Cole was equipped with a high-powered Nerf gun to ward off any would-be candy robbers on Halloween. When the season is over, Cole’s family plans to give the costume to another local child who was also wheelchair-bound to wear next year.