Waldwick boy with cerebral palsy gets VIP access to WWE holiday event at Prudential after long ordering process

WALDWICK An 8-year-old boy with cerebral palsy could have been shut out of Saturdays World Wrestling Entertainment holiday event at the Prudential Center in Newark if not for the perseverance of his parents.

KEVIN R. WEXLER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Brennan Macleod looks at the family Christmas tree beside his mother, Karen Macleod, on Monday.

Chant and Karen Macleod and their son Brennan, who is wheelchair bound and non-verbal, are fans of professional wrestling. When Chant Macleod a member of the WWE Fan Council that provides feedback received notification in October that he could purchase tickets for the event, he jumped at the on-line pre-sale offer.

Thats where the frustration started. The elder Macleod even though he had the pre-sale offer could not get access to tickets at the time the offer became available even though the event was wheelchair accessible at the Center.

Macleod said he and his wife first noticed how Brennan reacted to wrestling when he was 2 years old. Brennan, in the hospital and acting restless and uncomfortable wearing electrodes during testing, zeroed in and became focused when wrestling appeared on a TV while his father was channel surfing.

So when the opportunity came and we found out that the WWE was coming to the Prudential Center after Christmas, we thought what a great thing for Brennan now that hes old enough, to attend, Macleod said.

The Ticketmaster site didnt have an option for wheelchair accessible seats. Instead, there were website instructions to submit an on-line request for that seating and someone would contact him in a hour. No such luck. Two hours later Macleod contacted Ticketmaster and was told that it could take several days to fill his order because Ticketmaster had to contact Prudential.

A week later, Macleod was still attempting to buy the tickets, and, although Ticketmaster and the Prudential Center tried to assist him, he was still empty handed.

Macleod contacted the state Division on Civil Rights and everything was eventually ironed out. The Macleods without daughter Grayson, 5 will be given VIP treatment and likely meet WWE heroes like Brennans favorite, CM Punk.

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Waldwick boy with cerebral palsy gets VIP access to WWE holiday event at Prudential after long ordering process