Giant wheelchair swing built for twins with cerebral palsy


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WELLINGTON, Colorado — James and Libby Waechter, 12-year-old twins from Colorado both born with cerebral palsy, have never experienced what it's like to swing. Confined to wheelchairs, they are bound to the Earth in a way that most children are not.

Some construction students from CSU decided to change that. Each year as part of a course on service and leadership in construction, Colorado State University students choose a project to build and give back to the community.

This year, they spent 15 weeks planning, fundraising and building a 3,000-pound, wheelchair-accessible swing for James and Libby. Now, they twins can leave the surly bonds earth, at least for a few minutes a day.

"Oh my gosh, it is super fun," said mother Katie Waechter, 33, of Wellington, Colo., told ABC News. "It's like going to one of those amusement parks and riding those rides. You get the butterflies in your stomach."

The CSU program, called CS cares gets about a dozen applications from families asking for assistance. Come spring, the department decides who they can help and how.

"Before the class started our faculty went out there and did an evaluation," project member Kyle Snow. Told ABC News. "They came up with the idea for the swing. It's a first of its kind. It's hard to imagine until you see how big it is."

The swing is built so that it can handle quite a lot of weight, and sometimes the entire family can get on and play around.

"Before when you're swinging your kid in the swing, you're the observer and the worker," Waechter said. "And now, it's a full family event. We're all on the swing together. They just built this wonderland for the kids. The modifications for the kids, I can't even explain. The students easily gave 110 percent. It's perfection and beautiful."

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David Self Newlin

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