Whether you believe in a higher power or not in this world it is pretty certain that most things are out of our human hands to control. It is not always known why things happen to us or our loved ones like sickness and death and all we can do is pray that we are spared these heartaches.
But we know this is not always the case and we have to face these things with a brave heart and stay strong for those we love. This is especially true in the case of children or ones who become sick at a young age.
If we think it is hard to be the friends or families to these kids, think what it must be like to be in their shoes. How scary it would be to hear “terminal illness” when you haven’t even gotten your driver’s license yet. It is an incredibly sad part of this world and impossible to understand.
All we can do is support and love those who are terminally ill, that and making their last dreams come true.
Caleb Hammond was diagnosed with Leukemia in February of 2017 and has been a fighting champ ever since. However recently the family received the tragic news that his treatments had stopped working to fight the disease. He is just 11 years old but has been crazy about car racing since he was 2. He and his uncle, Chris Playle, were a team and did all the racing activities together. Chris said “It was kind of our deal. I probably had just as much fun as he did.”
As a last wish Caleb wanted to collect racing stickers to cover his casket with. When word spread that this racing fan was looking for stickers the community responded in a big way. Letters poured in from all over with both loving words and the stickers Caleb was looking for.
The racing community also came together in this hard time to give Caleb his dreams and so much more.
He was invited to the Southern Iowa Speedway to see the cars and drive the track. He can be seen with a smile on his face from ear to ear and looks pretty professional in his custom racing outfit. Some other kind people brought a monster truck to his birthday for an extra big celebration.
The full event can be seen on the Facebook page below and is incredibly heartwarming to watch. It’s amazing how people will come together to support each other in times of need. His family and the entire community just want to do everything possible to keep his spirits up. They even hosted a car show benefit to help raise funds for his family.
When something like this happensin life we can only hope we will be as brave and incredibly strong as Caleb has proven to be.
If you would like to send a card or sticker to contribute to Caleb’s wish, please send them to: Hammond at 314 North J Street, Oskaloosa, IA 52577. There has also been a GoFundMe page set up for his family that can be found HERE.
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