Family makes special costume for girl in wheelchair

It didn’t take a fairy godmother’s magic to turn Nikki Chadwell into Cinderella this Halloween. It took a clever uncle’s love.

The 8-year-old donned a blue ball gown and a blond wig to become the storybook princess while her uncle, Chris Mayo of Chowchilla, used his carpentry skills to turn her wheelchair into a special horse-drawn carriage decorated with lights. Nikki, who is legally blind, has cerebral palsy and survived shaken baby syndrome.

Mayo’s wife, Marydith, were first inspired to turn Nikki’s wheelchair into the stuff of fantasy a couple of years ago when the girl’s adoptive mother, Tonia Chadwell, planned an Alice in Wonderland costume for her. “(Marydith) said she’d look cute in a teacup and volunteered Chris to make the teacup,” Chadwell said. “We didn’t think much of it again until we saw it two or three days before Halloween.”

Mayo and Chadwell, who lives in Merced County, took Nikki to Halloween events last week in Chowchilla. On Friday, Nikki went trick-or-treating to her special education classes. Nikki and her carriage attracted many fans who had their smartphones ready to snap photos.

Mayo said he inherited his carpentry skills from his father. It took him about a week to build the carriage. He crafted a wooden platform, the same structure that has helped transform Nikki’s wheelchair into a teacup from the Mad Hatter’s party as well as into a Miss Pac-Man costume. He used foam to create Cinderella’s carriage, adorned with blue ribbons and gold paint.

“We do it more for the awareness,” Chris Mayo said. “She’s legally blind, so she can’t see it. But she gets the attention.”

Chadwell first met Nikki at Valley Children’s Hospital when she was the girl’s nurse. Just 10 months old at the time, Nikki was treated at the hospital as a foster child after being severely abused. Nikki was born a healthy baby with no disabilities, Chadwell said. Besides shaken baby syndrome, Nikki also suffered from a non-accidental brain injury. Chadwell said Nikki recently began eating food from a spoon, rather than a tube, but likely will never walk.

Nikki’s foster mother at the time was diagnosed with breast cancer and could no longer care for her. Chadwell became her new foster mom to prevent Nikki from being placed in the Fresno County child welfare system. Chadwell, who already had two adult children, adopted Nikki when she was 6 years old.

From a very young age, Nikki became part of Chadwell’s family. “My whole family knew her very well,” Chadwell said. “She went everywhere with us – on holidays and to graduations – even before I was her foster mom.”

Chris Mayo said he’s happy to help with the costumes for his niece. “I like the challenge of figuring out how to do things like this,” he said. “And Nikki loves the attention.”

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Family makes special costume for girl in wheelchair."