HELP KALEB SHOW EVERYONE WHAT HES MADE OF!

This is for my amazing nephew Kaleb. Kaleb was born with physical complications including missing fingers and toes, short femurs with one being severely shorter than the other, a hip that was not formed properly, a bone weakness in his Fibula and also feet that werent formed properly.

However it was soon obvious that none of these things were going to get in the way of Kaleb conquering the world! We were told Kaleb would never walk. He walked at just 8 months. Kaleb had an amazing aim and force when throwing a ball and a very impressive vocabulary by the age of 2. Which was perhaps very helpful Kalebs mum (my sister) as she then needed to explain to her son that in order for him to get the best out of life, his left foot was going to need to be amputated.

Kaleb went through the surgery and despite the initial upset that lasted only a few hours he was outside playing in the hospital garden with his big cousin the very next day. As always finding ways to make his body work for him! Kaleb went through a few more surgeries over the coming years including reconstruction of his left hip.

The biggest trial Kaleb and our family went through was when he underwent surgery in 2017 to try and lengthen his Femur. We were all very nervous going into this surgery as it ment Kaleb would have a metal fixture on the outside of his leg with pins going into the bone - it doesnt end there unfortunately. My sister had to slightly turn the pins every day to lengthen the gap that the surgeons had made in his femur. Kalebs only concern with this surgery was that cricket season was only 6 months away and he needed to be ready to go back on the field. Drs assured him he would be ready for cricket season.

However this surgery came with many complications. After numerous infections and constant pain when Kaleb begged .

Not only his mum but me aswell to let him end his life because he couldnt handle the pain any more, an ambulance was called and Kalebs mum refused to leave the Emergency Department until they had found the problem causing her son all of this pain! Thankfully eventually they found the problem. Kalebs hip had been pulled out of the socket. This was finally sorted and a few weeks later the day finally came that the metal fixture could be removed!

This still was not the end for Kaleb. After 2 days of being home without the metal frame Kaleb was still in severe pain. His mum took him back to the surgeon and xrays showed that the operation had been a failure. Kalebs femur was severely snapped in half. The surgeons tried fixing this - including using a full body cast but the angle of the break was too severe. Kaleb spent the next 10 weeks in a traction bed with weights attached to screws that went into his femur and pulled the bone straight. Kalebs mum was having to come and go from Wellington hospital every day, as kaleb has 3 younger siblings. But as a family they got through it. The day Kaleb finally came home was a huge celebration for the whole family. He pulled into the driveway with a welcome home banner that his siblings had made. After a few more months of pain but strong determination from Kaleb, he was back on 2 feet with a new prosthetic leg!

So this summer kaleb was finally able to sign back up to summer cricket. He started the season off amazingly! You would have never known that he had missed time off the field, let alone what he had been through! When he bowled his first wicket his mum cried with such pride.

So when the opportunity arised for Kaleb to trial for a tournament that would send him to the Hawkes Bay he of course jumped at it!

In Hawkes Bay Kaleb will get to stay at a camp with the rest of his team and other year 6 cricketers. Parents are expected to book accomodation in the Hawkes Bay as they are responsible for getting their child to each game which will be played all over the region.