Man building special bed for ill child in North Carolina
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Colorado man is close to making a wish come true for a very ill little boy in North Carolina.
Three-year-old Caiden Hawtree is battling cystic fibrosis and has pulmonary hypertension for which he needs open-heart surgery. The operation will be the third of his short life.
Caidens's grandfather is a farmer who owns a blue tractor that the child loves. His dream is to own a "grownup" bed that looks just like the tractor.
"Ford blue," the boy told a reporter with ABC station 7 News Denver.
"That's the way he learned his colors," Caiden's dad explained. "He doesn't see green or blue. He calls it John Deere green or Ford blue or International red."
That's where Colorado carpenter Chris Kuemerle comes in. His second job is building custom beds for children. When he heard about Caiden's wish, he set up a fundraising website to buy materials and he's donating his own labor.
The bed is nearly finished and Kuemerle plans to load it up and drive it across the country to deliver it in person.
"I pray to God every day that this kid survives long enough to get this bed," Kuemerle told 7 News, the emotion catching in his throat.
Kuemerle plans to make the trip as soon as he can.
