Sask. Polytechnic helps young Saskatoon boy live Halloween dream

A trip to Disneyland wouldn’t have sparked the same excitement and ear-to-ear smile painted on the face of a seven-year-old Saskatoon boy the same way a motorcycle attachment for his wheelchair did.

“This is a dream come true for him. It warms my heart. It’s unbelievable, all these people I don’t know any of them and for them to do this for him, words can’t express how I’m feeling right now,” said Henry Craig’s mother Lexie. “I had tears in my eyes just because of the look on Henry’s face, he was so excited, and I’m so excited for him.”

On the day before trick-or-treating, Henry, who has cerebral palsy and is bound to a wheelchair, was fitted with a custom motorcycle attachment for his dream Halloween costume. It’s all thanks to his grandmother Annie Bradford who wanted to do something special for her grandson who loves motorcycles.

Bradford called up her good friend Rob Gilchrist who just so happened to be the department head of the industrial mechanic program Saskatchewan Polytechnic, who agreed to the favour in a heartbeat.

Three weeks later and countless hours of after-school welding and grinding, Gilchrist and a dozen students in the auto body, mechanics and welding department assembled a one-of-a-kind attachment , equipped with customs decals like Henry’s Hawg and Henry Davidson Motorcycles.

“We were here several times but Henry didn’t know what was going on. But when he got the bike he freaked out,” Bradford said. “My heart was racing, my eyes were balling and just seeing the glow in his face, he was so happy. He was vibrating, grabbing the throttle, trying to touch the tank he was going wild.”

After cruising through the hallways of the Kelsey Campus, Henry now gets the chance to show off his new ride on Saturday when tackles homes in the Caswell Hill neighbourhood.  But there’s still a mystery behind Henry’s love of motorcycles.

“I have no idea. I don’t like motorcycles. I think it’s just the noise. He likes anything loud of mechanical,” Lexie said, adding whenever he’s in the car with his family, he belts out sounds of excitement every time they pass a biker.

Henry’s mom said now that the motorcycle is on the wheelchair, it’s unlikely that’s it’s coming off anytime soon.

“You’ll probably see us out grocery shopping and you’ll see the motorcycle attachment on it,” Lexie said.