Buffalo Boy Celebrates Special Christmas Gift from NFL Players at Walt Disney World Resort

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., (Dec. 14, 2020) – While most kids his age are longing for bicycles and video games from Santa Claus, all 8-year-old Jackson DeLude from Buffalo, N.Y., wanted for Christmas this year was the ability to run. Jackson, who was born without fully developed legs, recently flew to Orlando to get his wish, thanks to the generosity of two kind-hearted NFL players. And one of the first places he wanted to test out his new legs was Walt Disney World Resort.

After learning about Jackson’s Christmas wish, Buffalo Bills players Matt Milano and Gabriel Davis decided to play Santa Claus and arranged for him to fly to Orlando and get fitted for two prosthetic legs at Prosthetic & Orthotic Associates. The players covered the costs for everything, including a trip to Disney’s Hollywood Studios over the weekend where Jackson and his mother, Ashley, explored Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, took a trip on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and played with some of his Pixar pals in Toy Story Land.

Milano and Davis chose to send Jackson, whose partially developed legs were surgically amputated when he was an infant, to Orlando to fulfill his Christmas wish because they are both from the Orlando area and both trained for years at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort.

Jackson DeLude, 8, and his mom, Ashley, walk down Sunset Boulevard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to celebrate Jackson’s new prosthetic legs.