OSKALOOSA, IA (THECOUNT) — Caleb Hammond, the 11-year-old Iowa boy who made headlines after saying on social media that he wanted racing stickers to cover his casket has died.
Sytsma, of Bates Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa, says Hammond died Monday. He declined to say where.
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Caleb’s stepmother, Kaylee Hammond, said in a Facebook post that he had taken a turn for the worse Friday.
His family brought him home to Oskaloosa, about 55 miles southeast of Des Moines, after determining the painful leukemia treatments he’d been undergoing at a Des Moines hospital weren’t working and other options offered little hope.
Caleb decided he wanted to enjoy the time he had left outside the hospital.
“I believe he made the right choice to live it out, doing what we’re doing instead of laying in a hospital bed,” his father John Hammond said. source
Race drivers and thousands of well-wishers from across the country answered his call for the stickers, and he was even given a chance to ride in a $3 million race car at a local track, thanks to the owner of a Ferrari dealership in Fort Lauderdale.