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Who you gonna call? One Central Georgia family is grabbing their proton packs to bust some ghosts this Halloween

A lot of families scheme Halloween plans every year, but not like the Graffs. They make adaptive costumes for their daughter Ellie, who has PCH.

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — When there's something strange in your neighborhood, who are you going to call? 

The ghostbusters, of course! Now, Central Georgia has their very own trio ready to bust ghouls, goblins and monsters.

A lot of families scheme Halloween plans every year, but not like the Graffs.

Not only do they plot their trick-or-treating path around their Warner Robins neighborhood, but they go all out for their kids 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

Josh and Jennifer Graff are raising their daughter Ellie, 5, and 9-month-old son Luca.

They've been crafting their costumes since the spring. 

Ellie's parents call her an adrenaline junkie, even though she lives with Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia, or PCH. 

She's confined to a wheelchair, and the Graffs make the most joy out of it.

They do everything in their power to make her feel extra special, including building a custom-made "Ectomobile" with matching ghostbuster costumes.

It's got lights made out of plastic water bottles, wheels shaped out of Styrofoam, ghoul-grabbing gadgets attached, and the original soul-scaring siren from the 1984 film.

"It should be endorsed by 3-M tape and gorilla glue!" dad said chuckling.

Ellie's custom 1959 Miller-Meteor Cadillac is her creative dad's latest creation.

"Last year was the ET thing," he said. 

It was their first time assembling a wheelchair adaptive "vehicle" they could incorporate with their costumes.

Credit: Josh and Jenn Graff
Ellie as "Elliot" with her parents as the hazmat team from "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982)
Credit: Josh and Jenn Graff
Ellie as "Elliot" with her parents as the hazmat team from "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982)

"I feel like she liked that! We had her on the bike with ET on the front," dad said.

Ellie became "Elliot" and her parents were the hazmat team.

"We just want her to be a part of things as much as possible," Josh said.

In an effort to normalize special needs families involved in community events, "whether it be trick or treating or a parade or even just playing at the park," mom says 

"Just that bottom line of inclusion," Jenn said. 

Making lemonade out of lemons is not something the Graffs initially planned on when they first got married.

"When she was born it was kinda like - whoop - 180!" mom said giggling.

As carriers of the rare PCH genetic disorder, the Graffs live with a reality different from a lot of us. 

"I didn't have any knowledge of special needs families before Ellie, and I had a lot of questions," mom said. "It's ok to have questions."

The Graffs are transparent about their lifestyle; they encourage curiosity and say they love to answer questions.

"Kids will do that, and that's totally fine!" Jenn elaborated. "I feel like that is so innocent, and they're just curious. I feel like, being a human being, you're just curious. As we get older, I think we don't want to be rude. But, I think that's what people should do-- they should just ask."

"We went on a Disney trip earlier this year and she loved it," dad said. "In rise of the resistance, as soon as there was, like, shooting of lasers and everything going on-- she liked that. All the lights and the sounds. And then, as soon as it dropped - you know, it drops out, and then you take out onto the spaceship - she just went crazy!"

"Never expected how much joy she actually brings," Jenn said. "She's just pure love."

"You go on Google, you listen to what the doctors say, like, there's no guarantee how long we're gonna have her with us," Josh said. "So, we try to make the best of it while we have her here with us and give her the best life possible."

Dad used his skills he learned at Northside High from when he was a teenager to handcraft his daughter's wheelchair-friendly costume.

"It just gives us something to do together and another chance to have fun!" he said.

The inspiration behind the project was actually Baby Luca's first Atlanta Braves game.

Credit: Josh and Jenn Graff
Baby Luca's first Atlanta Braves game

You may remember him from the Graff's in vitro fertilization journey.

The 9-month-old's "rolls on rolls" sparked the Graff's idea to tackle Halloween costumes in the Spring when his parents thought he looked like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man monster.

Dad's been plotting ever since.

"I knew we had to do something bigger since we're bigger now, with Luca, and we gotta step the game up so who knows what next year's gonna be!" Josh said.

Until then, they're taking scare of business.

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