Caleb

I was talking to my friend Ryan today on G-Chat and he told me about this workout Caleb and after reading about it, I knew I had to do it.

WOD:

"Caleb"

8 rounds for time of:
400 meter run
8 walking lunges
8 box jumps (as high as you can handle)

21:09

Caleb Elijah Stecker - Photo and story care of Caleb's dad, Jeremy Stecker - founder of Eugene CrossFit.

Caleb Elijah was born 8-8-08 with half of a heart. (The condition is known as 'Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome'). Immediately out of the womb the specialists whisked him away to operate. In the surgery everything went as planned and they reminded us that the recovery was the hard part. Day after day they would remove the machines doing his normal body functions as we held our breath. Caleb did fantastic each time. After all the machines were removed Caleb either set a new record or tied an existing record for coming home the fastest after the surgery. To add to it, even after eating out of a feeding tube all that time, he breast feed like he had been doing it the whole time. The doctors and staff were happily confused, I guess that never happens.

Fast forward 50 days to yesterday. Sometime late morning, Caleb was doing great but suddenly seemed to have a little difficulty breathing. Being only a few minutes to the ER, we rushed him there and by the time we got there he wasn't breathing at all. The doctors stabilized him and then it happened again. They stabilized him again. This happened a few times. They noticed that although his heart was pumping and he was breathing, his body wasn't getting any oxygen. They found the shunt they had put in from the surgery was completely obstructed. The PH balance of his blood showed that he had not been getting enough oxygen for his vital organs during this time. The only thing we could do is unplug him and let him go. Caleb Elijah peacefully passed away around 6:00pm last night.

About a week before he was born, his dad suffered two severely broken bones in his left hand in a softball accident. They operated and repaired his hand. While Caleb was alive his father could only do Crossfit workouts that didn't include his hands. In many cases he substituted running, box jumps, or lunges. The three eights are for Caleb's birthday, 8-8-08. Rest in peace Caleb.