Iowa boy who wanted racing stickers for his casket dies

Published Sep. 10, 2018 2:33 p.m. ET

OSKALOOSA, Iowa (AP) — 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.