Iowa boy who wanted racing stickers for his casket dies

OSKALOOSA, Iowa – An 11-year-old Iowa boy who wanted racing stickers to cover his casket has died.

Michael Sytsma (SIHTZ’-muh), of Bates Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa, says Caleb Hammond died Monday. He declined to say where.

Caleb’s stepmother, Kaylee Hammond, posted a photo of the boy on her Facebook page and said in a post Saturday 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.

Race drivers and others answered his call for the stickers, and he was even given a chance to drive a race car at a local track, under the guidance of a 12-year-old racer.

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Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com