THEY TURN KIDS' WHEELS INTO WOWS

When he was little, Reese Davis just wanted to turn his wheelchair into a Wall-E costume for Halloween. What happened next sparked a decades-long movement that's still rolling strong!

- Bill Holton

Lon, Reese (both in yellow shirts) and their team of builders make dreams come true for wheelchair users on Halloween

The costume has to be wider to fit me and my chair,” Reese Davis told his dad, Lon, as they worked together on his Wall-E Halloween costume. Wall-E was Reese’s favorite movie character, a little guy on wheels—just like him. And this Halloween, Reese was going to transform his new wheelchair into the perfect costume.

Reese was barely three months old when he was diagnosed with spinal tumors that left him unable to walk. But at 3, he got his own pint-size wheelchair—just in time for preschool. He could roll everywhere with the other children, but he felt like an outsider. At recess, he couldn’t play, and during story time, when the other kids sat cross-legged on the rug, he rolled up in his chair, unsure how to join in. Reese’s classmates didn’t know how to approach him, so they kept their distance—until the day of the school Halloween parade.