Wheelchair Costume: Voodoo King and Queen Win Halloween

Patricia Perez and her husband, Dave, don’t usually dress up for Halloween together. The retired couple from Arizona has been married for 44 years, but each has a different approach to the holiday.

“My husband is a mild-mannered, kind-hearted introvert — until Halloween rolls around. Once in costume, he morphs into a complete weirdo,” says Patricia, who lives with a type of muscular dystrophy and an incomplete spinal cord injury. “I’m always an introvert, and spooky isn’t my deal; I don’t even watch scary movies.”

Patricia normally helps create costumes solely for Dave. However, one year, the couple decided to dress up together. Despite Patricia’s usual aversion to all things spooky, Dave convinced her to go with a voodoo theme.

Other than their hats, the costumes were assembled from thrift and dollar store finds. Patricia made her voodoo doll using an old shirt and some neon Sharpies, and she applied both her and Dave’s makeup. The couple also enlisted the help of a friend to convert Patricia’s wheelchair into a throne using a cardboard box, spray paint, plastic spiders, and lights.

The couple debuted their costumes on Halloween night at The Office, a pub in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where they won first prize for best couple’s costume.

Patricia and Dave normally spend their days tinkering around the house or taking road trips to visit friends and family. Patricia’s care team at her MDA Care Center recently identified her particular genetic mutation, though it doesn’t have a name yet.

“I am told medical science has not seen that particular mutation before,” she says. “That seems fitting, as I’ve always been a little bit different.”