SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – An 11-year-old Iowa boy whose final wish was to have his casket decorated in stickers like a race car has passed away.
A post on Caleb Hammond’s mother's Facebook page shared a portion of her message, confirming her son died at 2:00 Monday morning.
Caleb was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was nine. After the treatment for his illness was no longer effective, Caleb and his family opted not to continue it.
The avid racing fan had asked for people to send racing stickers that could adorn his casket. The family was overwhelmed by the huge number of stickers and other items that were sent in support of Caleb’s wish.
A Ferrari dealer in Florida even sent a car and driver to Iowa, so Caleb could enjoy a ride at the Iowa Speedway in Newton.
Over the weekend, some NASCAR drivers honored Caleb by sporting a Team Caleb decal on their cars. During the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, these three drivers all sported decals on their cars:
#38 David Ragan
#34 Michael McDowell
#72 Corey LaJoie
During Sunday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series, these nine drivers used the decal:
#74 Mike Harmon
#15 BJ McLeod
#78 Tommy Joe Martins
#8 Caesar Bacarella
#45 Josh Bilicki
#55 Bayley Currey
#39 Ryan Sieg
#38 JJ Yeley
#93 Jeff Green
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with Caleb’s end-of-life and funeral expenses.
