Kaleb Christian does a bang-up job of living up to his last name.
When he rolls into a room, he lights it up with his smile and the smiles he puts on the faces of others. Unlike most of us, Kaleb does not walk into a room; he literally rolls into a room in his electric wheel chair.
At 32 years of age, he does not have the use of his arms or legs. He has some movement in his elbows, with one being considerably better than the other, but use of the elbows is of no benefit, because he can’t use his hands. His neck and head appear to be about the only external body parts that are reasonably functional.
His head is invaluable to him, not just because he has a good mind, but because he uses his head to operate his wheel chair. His wheel chair is rigged up with a “crown” that allows him to control the movement and direction of the chair by tapping his head against the crown.
To make this situation worse, his father – who was also his best friend – was killed in the accident. Kaleb was driving at the time of the accident, and he was also drinking and so was his father. Both of them abused alcohol and drugs.
Kaleb’s drug of choice was alcohol.
After something like that, how do you face life, much less face life with a smile?
I asked him that and he said, “If I can put a smile on someone’s face, I feel like I’m doing what I need to be doing.”
Kaleb is highly successful at doing what he feels he needs to be doing. He creates smiles at General Baptist Nursing Home at Linn in almost robotic fashion. When people see him, they smile and when they think of him, they smile. The smiles appear on the faces of both the residents and the staff.
I’ve been thinking of doing this column on Kaleb since before the death of Marjorie Campbell this past Oct. 16. I was amazed with him the first time he came into Marjorie’s room to say hello. Those two really hit it off. But as Kaleb said, “Everyone liked grandma,” as they called her. But everyone out there also likes Kaleb.
This week I was talking about Kaleb with Jessica Bishop, the social worker at the home. She quickly responded, “Kaleb is an amazing young man. He’s going to be in our wedding next year.”
In addition to making people smile, Kaleb wants to warn people about abusing alcohol and drugs. His advice to them: “Get help…early. Get help before you hit rock bottom. Addiction takes from you…it takes everything.”
Before Marjorie died and at the time of her death and funeral, I noticed a very distinct feeling of family among the residents and staff of the home. I asked Kaleb about this and he agreed.
This brings me to a story I read recently by one of my favorite authors about a middle-aged man named Bill who wanted to do something different, so he decided to take some vacation time and get more exercise. Every day he took a walk and one day he passed by the retirement home that he drove by every day on the way to work. A few Sundays earlier he had read that the average nursing home resident had only one visitor per month and he decided he would stop at the home and visit one of the residents.
He felt very uncomfortable walking up to the lady at the front desk, but he forced himself to tell her that he had made time that day and wanted to visit with someone who might benefit from a visitor. The receptionist said she had the perfect person in mind. She pointed him down a hallway that looked a mile long and told him to go down that hall and knock on the door of any room and he’d find that perfect person.
Bill’s birthday was on the 21st of that month, so he knocked on the door of room 21. A rather grumpy voice told him to come in. He went in, introduced himself, the two started talking and ended up becoming great friends. After 10 years Bill still visits the man regularly.
Kaleb has two very special visitors. His mom and step dad visit frequently. He’s close to both of them.
I think our local nursing homes are a little different than the one described in the above story. More people in this area visit nursing homes. Also, I truly believe there is a family structure in place. The family is more than just the residents and the staff. Visitors stop by to see one person and then end up visiting with a number of folks.
Kaleb told me a story about a man named Jim Cleveland, who used to stop by to visit a relative. The relative died, but Jim still visits the home twice a week. Jim has told Kaleb that when he retires, he wants to come there and help. He feels it’s his “calling.”
Doesn’t that make you feel good to know there are people like Jim Cleveland in this area? I don’t know Jim, but I do know this would be a much better world if we had more people like him.
