Smiles on their dials keep driver coming back

In an Isuzu truck at Special Rigs for Special Kids in Dunedin yesterday were (from left) brothers...
In an Isuzu truck at Special Rigs for Special Kids in Dunedin yesterday were (from left) brothers Richie (8) and Carter (4) with their mother, Suzie Helliwell. Photos by Peter McIntosh.
Joe Thomas
Joe Thomas
Waving from a St Kilda footpath at the Special Rigs for Special Kids convoy yesterday were (from...
Waving from a St Kilda footpath at the Special Rigs for Special Kids convoy yesterday were (from left) Andrea Bartley, Maia Tavite (6), Issac Casey (4), Lenny (3) and Paul Johns, all of Dunedin.

A ride in a truck convoy is ''so important'' for children with disabilities, a Dunedin mum says.

Suzie Helliwell said her son Carter loved seeing people waving at him from Dunedin streets as he passed in a big truck yesterday.

''This time, he was really into it. It was awesome.''

The first time Carter attended a run, he was a baby and slept through the whole run.

This year, Carter's excitement for the event was ''huge'' because he loved trucks, and had cartoon trucks decorating the hubcaps of his new wheelchair.

Carter has an extremely rare chromosome disorder - partial trisomy 15q and partial duplication 8p.

''As far as we know, there is nobody else in the world that has the same condition,'' Mrs Helliwell said.

The rarity had its negatives and positives. A positive was that no case studies had been completed on the condition, she said.

''Because there is nobody like Carter, we've got nothing we can look at.

''In a way, that is good, because there is no big scary figures of what he is not going to be able to do - or what is going to happen - so we just hope for the best and anticipate he is going to do as much as possible - there is no limits on him.''

Carter had given the family access to life changing experiences.

''He is such a cool wee kid and he has opened our world,'' Mrs Helliwell said.

Truck driver Joe Thomas drove the Helliwell family on the run in his nine tonne Isuzu truck yesterday.

Mr Thomas had driven on every run.

On the first run, 24 years ago, there were 120 trucks catering for 20 kids.

On runs since, the number of trucks and kids had been ''level pegging'', he said.

The children kept him coming back each year.

''The smiles on their faces,'' he said.

Event president Greg Inch said 205 trucks transported about the same number of children and their families yesterday.

He applauded the ''resilient'' people who braved the weather to wave at the trucks.

''I was very pleased. It was bloody good.''

The popularity of the event among the children and drivers would ensure it would return for many years to come, he said.

-shawn.mcavinue@odt.co.nz

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