Dad builds Snowbird jet Halloween costume for son with complex special needs

Tracey and her son Jackson are preparing for their family's favourite time of the year. Every Halloween, Jackson - who has a rare and complex collection of disorders - dresses up in an elaborate wheelchair costume made by his dad.

“It’s better than Christmas,” Tracey says with a smile.

Jackson started celebrating as a baby, before dressing up as a monkey for his second Halloween. (He was Curious George. His father, Chad, was The Man with the Yellow Hat).

Around this time, Tracey started worrying it was more than her son’s costume that was curious.

“He was very floppy,” Tracey says. “I took him to the doctor and said, ‘He doesn’t look at me. I think he has autism.’”

Tracey was right. And eventually, Jackson was diagnosed with a rare and complex collection of disorders, including cerebral palsy.

“In the beginning it was, ‘We’re never going to be able to do this,’” Tracey recalls. “We’re never going to be able to do that.”

How do you trick or treat, they wondered, if you can’t walk or talk?

“We can dress him up in the wheelchair and go door to door,” Tracey says. “But that’s not fun.”