An 11-year-old boy from Iowa, who is dying from leukemia, wishes for people to send him racing stickers so that his casket will be decorated with them.
There are various studies on preventing and treating childhood leukemia, but unfortunately for the young racing fan, the research will be too late for him.
Dying 11-Year-Old Leukemia Patients Asks For Racing Stickers
Caleb Hammond, an 11-year-old boy diagnosed with leukemia in February 2017, was no longer responding to cancer treatment at Blank Children's Hospital in Iowa. His parents were forced to make a decision of either keeping their son in the hospital, where he will undergo painful treatments that had no chance of curing him, or take him home to Oskaloosa, where he can live out the rest of his life with his family.
"There were some other options left, but they were going to make him sick and do harm to his body," said Chris Playle, Hammond's uncle. "They decided to call it quits, and come home and be a kid and do the things he hasn't been able to do the last year and a half."
Hammond came home on May 3, according to his GoFundMe page. The young leukemia patient is still strong physically, but he is starting to get tired easily. However, with his return home, he has been doing normal activities that he was not able to do in the hospital.
Hammond, a racing fan who loves to visit the Southern Iowa Speedway, has asked the public a final request. He wants racing stickers, which will be used to decorate his casket. While the request may sound morbid, it shows that Hammond's body may be broken, but not his spirit.
Meanwhile, Team Kids With Cancer 46-7 made one of Hammond's dreams come true. The organization was able to get Hammond behind the wheel of a race car, allowing him to drive a six-lap race.
Different Forms Of Leukemia Treatment
There are different forms of leukemia treatment being tried and developed, including a cancer pill that may keep leukemia patients alive for over 10 years. There was even a report from January that a federal judge allowed an 11-year-old leukemia patient to bring medical marijuana to school, as that was her prescribed medication.
The decision of Hammond's parents to stop his treatment and allow him to live the rest of his life as normally as possible, meanwhile, is understandable. All that can be done now is to send Hammond as many racing stickers as possible, and hopefully people from across the United States can grant the dying racing fan his modest wish.
