High school students from Minnesota has transformed the life of a toddler boy with a rare genetic condition through the help of a customized toy car.
This genetic condition makes it difficult for Cillian Jackson to move around. He cannot walk on his own either. To help him, the Rogue Robotics Team from Farmington Public Schools developed an electric wheelchair specifically for his needs.
Miracle Project
Cillian needed an assistive device that will improve his mobility. Similar chairs cost $200,000, and his parents' insurance will not cover for it.
The Jackson couple reached out to the Rogue Robotics Team in the hopes of helping Cillian. The team partnered with the University of Delaware's GoBabyGo program, which makes mobility devices for children with the same impairment.
Coach Spencer Elvebak said the students spent their after-school hours for several weeks building the chair.
"The GoBabyGo program gave us some great resources to use, but we did have to make quite a few customizations to accommodate for Cillian's specific needs," Elvebak said.
Next month, Rogue Robotics will participate in the state's robotics competition. Elvebak said the students did the bulk of the work from programming to wiring. They applied their skills that they will show off in the contest to create Cillian's chair.
Early Christmas Present
Rogue Robotics gave Cillian's family the electric wheelchair as an early Christmas present. In their Facebook post, Rogue Robotics Team thanked Cillian's parent for giving them the opportunity to do the project.
Cillian's mom, Krissy, also took to social media her gratitude to everyone who was involved.
"Thank you all so much for all of your hard work on this project. It was amazing seeing Cillian's eyes light up when he got to test it out," Krissy said.
She added that the motorized wheelchair encouraged Cillian's curiosity because he can make choices on his own.
