Cary company transforms Woodstock girl’s wheelchair into a custom-made Halloween costume

A miniature blue and white pickup truck sits in the driveway of a home near Woodstock. The small vehicle is adorned with working lights and sound effects of a horn and an engine revving.

This is 14-year-old Kayli Whistler’s Halloween costume, which transformed her wheelchair, or medical stroller, into a mini-pickup truck through the partnership of the Magic Wheelchair charity and Stryker Sage, a company based in Cary.

“A lot of times our kids are forgotten, the ones that are non-mobile, and they sought out to help her,” said Kayli’s mother, Kelly Whistler.

Kayli, who is also nonverbal, lives with Trisomy 18, also known as Edwards syndrome. The rare condition causes developmental problems because of an extra chromosome 18. The syndrome has no direct treatment and can result in death for many infants within their first year, according to the National Library of Medicine.

Kayli had open-heart surgery and was pronounced dead for 32 minutes when she was 4 months old. Miraculously, she survived. Her mother documented the life-changing experience on YouTube. The video has almost 2 million views.

Kayli has had extensive health problems throughout her life, and most recently had spinal surgeries for an infection. Doctors have told Whistler multiple times that her daughter “wasn’t going to make it,” she said.

“She’s miracle after miracle,” Whistler said.

Whistler also provides updates on her daughter’s health on the Facebook page Kayli’s Krusade, which has about 10,000 followers.

Whistler applied for her daughter to receive a custom-made wheelchair covering by Magic Wheelchair. The nonprofit, which has built more than 300 custom wheelchair designs nationwide, works with local companies and volunteers to make the Halloween costumes happen, Magic Wheelchair Executive Director Christine Getman said.

The goal of Magic Wheelchair is to shift the narrative of what it means to be a wheelchair user, Getman said. She hopes the costume allows Kayli to feel the freedom her medical stroller provides.

“I hope she feels so confident and proud of who she is,” she said. “I hope that she continues to tell the world what she wants and that world will listen.”

The charity raised funds to cover material costs of the project through crowdfunding campaigns and social media. Average costs for costume materials are about $1,500 each, Getman said.

The pickup truck costume is an inspiration from Rob Whistler, Kelly Whistler’s late husband and Kayli’s father. Rob Whistler, who died last year from cancer, had a passion for pickup trucks that spread to all four of their children, Kelly Whistler said.

“It would be really cool for her to fit in with her brothers and honor her dad by having a pickup truck,” she said.

The costume is a recreation of one of Rob Whistler’s trucks, and even has a bumper sticker in dedication to him.

Sage, which manufactures a range of health care products, is a business unit of Stryker, a medical technology company. The company revealed the costume to Kayli and Kelly Whistler on Halloween.

“She was smiling so much,” Kelly Whistler said. “It made it all worth it.”

Costumes are important for kids in wheelchairs since trick-or-treating can be difficult for mobility, Whistler said. Without her husband, Whistler said she probably wouldn’t have been able to get her daughter a costume this year on her own.

“The costume has become a huge thing. Just having a party and having a costume,” she said.

Kelly Whistler said she plans on using the pickup truck with her daughter frequently in the future. And definitely will take it out for future Halloween parties.

“It’s celebrating the kiddos as they are and reaching out and loving on them,” she said. “It makes my heart melt.”