A dying 11-year-old boy with a love for motor sports has asked for racing stickers to decorate his casket after he made the heartbreaking decision to forgo his cancer treatments.
In February 2017, Caleb Hammond was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and spent the next year-and-a-half in and out of hospital as he underwent several rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. The young boy from Oskaloosa, Iowa suffered symptoms of heart failure and was in a medically induced coma for a week during treatment, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family.
After a brief respite, an aggressive form of Caleb’s cancer returned in May. The family said he underwent another bone marrow transplant and more chemotherapy. After he failed to respond to those treatments, Caleb’s family said he made the decision to stop them and return home.
“What Caleb wanted the most was to go home and be a kid again… spend time with his siblings, and family,” the GoFundMe page said. “He has decided to come home and be kid… We let him make that decision… and we fully support him in it.”
Since his discharge from hospital on Aug. 3, Caleb has been spending time with family and friends and enjoying normal activities he had been missing out on.
On Saturday, the avid racing fan’s dreams came true when he drove six laps around the Southern Iowa Speedway in a hobby track car designed for kids, thanks to the help of Team Kids With Cancer 46-7, a local non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about childhood cancers.
Caleb has loved racing since he was only two years old, according to local TV station KTVO.
“I don't know, it's just been in my blood since I was a kid,” the young boy told the station on the day of the event.
“Caleb was fortunate enough to have the KWC racing team make his dream of being a race car driver for a day come true!!!” his mother wrote in an update on Monday.
In honour of Caleb’s passion for the sport, his uncle Chris Playle told local newspaper The Des Moines Register that his nephew has asked the public to send him racing stickers to adorn his casket one day.
“We’re trying to get a bunch of them. We’re trying to decorate his casket," Playle said. "We’re just trying to do as much as we can with him while he’s here.”
The boy’s request has struck a chord. His stepmother uploaded a photo showing bins of letters and packages addressed to Caleb in a Facebook post on Sunday.
“Words cannot describe how grateful we are and how amazing people have been about sending stickers. With that being said, I am pretty sure we have met our quota!!! No need to send more!” she wrote.
