3-year-old amputee shows off one-of-a-kind Halloween costumes

"She loves Halloween and she likes being something scary every year."

ByABC News
October 26, 2017, 5:47 PM

— -- A mother from California is helping her daughter accept her difference by creating special Halloween costumes to show it off.

Scarlette Tipton wears a unique costume each year to incorporate the distinction of her missing arm, which she lost because of a rare cancer three years ago.

"She loves Halloween and she likes being something scary every year," the girl's mom, Simone Tipton of Silverado, California told ABC News. "I wanted to make sure it was rooted deep in her subconscious that it doesn't matter that she is different."

PHOTO: Scarlette Tipton, 3, had her left arm amputated at 10 months old due to a rare form of tissue cancer.
Scarlette Tipton, 3, had her left arm amputated at 10 months old due to a rare form of tissue cancer.

Scarlette, now 3, was born with a rare, soft tissue cancer that claimed her left arm when she was 10 months old.

She'll mark 3 years since being declared cancer free on Oct. 30, Tipton said.

PHOTO: This Halloween, Scarlette Tipton, 3, will dress as a one-winged raven.
This Halloween, Scarlette Tipton, 3, will dress as a one-winged raven.

Since her very first Halloween, Tipton has hand-made costumes for Scarlette to highlight the fact that she's missing her arm.

Scarlette has been a skeleton and held a plastic arm as a prop.

PHOTO: Scarlette Tipton, 3, who lost her left arm because of a rare cancer, was a doll for Halloween in 2015.
Scarlette Tipton, 3, who lost her left arm because of a rare cancer, was a doll for Halloween in 2015.

In 2014, she was a doll, and this Halloween, she’ll dress as a dead, one-winged raven.

"[When] she was a doll, on the left side of her body I left the sleeve and I put a bunch of stuffing in there so it looked like the arm had been ripped off," Tipton said. "She really embraces it. She tells [other kids], 'When I have two arms I'm sick, and when I have one I'm not.'"

PHOTO: Scarlette Tipton, 3, wears a different Halloween costume each year to incorporate the distinction of her missing limb, which she lost because of a rare cancer.
Scarlette Tipton, 3, wears a different Halloween costume each year to incorporate the distinction of her missing limb, which she lost because of a rare cancer.

Tipton said she has more future costume ideas for Scarlette including a zombie.

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