Super Caelen

05/01/2026

As Caelen approaches his 4th Anniversary of transplant next Tuesday, I want to thank his donor’s family. We are forever grateful for their loving decision to save others in the midst of their sorrow.

A Gift from an Organ Donor brings New Life for someone desperately waiting for an Organ Transplant to save their life.

We honour and thank organ donors everywhere. Without their families agreeing lives would not, and will not be saved, so to all donor families we thank you for your strength. In the midst of your sadness you agreed to give life and hope toothers. The gift of life you have given so freely and in love is appreciated every day. Love lives on thanks to your courage and compassion. Thank you for your strength.

Please think about organ donation, talk about it, share your decisions and give hope.

Please about your decisions with your loved ones, say and register your decision at NHS Organ Donation

12/20/2025

C’mon Southwest, you can do it. Get Caelen to Annapolis safely tonight. 3.5hr delay, but at least he entertains himself.

09/19/2025

Caelen is on car #88 Please tune in to NBC / Peacock Sunday at 3:00 pm EST

09/05/2025

Please tune in to NBC Peacock on Sept 21 at 3:00 pm. IMSA and AFCorse Official are racing for a wonderful cause - Camp Boggy Creek. Caelen’s handsome mug will be on car #88 . If you are able to donate in support of Boggy Creek, we would be so grateful.

The link to donate is here:

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.hatcherfoundation.org/resilient-racers__;!!O6GqoWc!GUb82jA0Nz3BWupNnC0Tntp1dBO-icrWtSN9WQvMlGGtfTFW3yCZrJa5YrDWin3_AxR57YXgBFm_zhURuD3wsCQ$

Happy Racing!!! 🏎️

08/18/2025

Happy 16th Birthday Caelen 🥳

You had a fun weekend with your dad, sister and grandparents. You raced go karts and played arcade games, swam and built legos.

Next weekend you get to go smash things with your friends in a break room, and have a pizza party.

While we didn’t get to wake up under the same roof, I’m so grateful we get to fall asleep under one.

Wishing you a new year full of growth, friendships, laughter, success, and of course all the love that flows your way. Im proud of your for always being a fighter Caelen. Keep going my love, there’s no stopping you. 🥳❤️

08/11/2025

First day of 9th grade. New school and better uniforms. Have a great year, my love. 

06/08/2025

We had the pleasure of attending an event today for Camp Boggy Creek at one of our favorite local restaurants Leftovers Cafe. Nurse Mary, Caelen’s favorite volunteer invited us to join them and share a little bit about what makes camp so special. Caelenn got to take the microphone, his absolute favorite thing in the world, and share stories. And then he and Nurse Mary got into their usual shenanigans 🩷

When Caelen walked into the event, he immediately knew the race car, as well as the team. He met them last summer at camp, and surprisingly, they knew exactly who he was when he walked up. And even more fun is that they’re from Jupiter. So as often as they can, they load up their race car and trailer and drive three hours north to put smiles on campers faces.

If you don’t know what Camp Boggy Creek is, please visit their page and check them out. Founded by Paul Newman (salad dressing, lemonade, etc), it is a camp for special needs children that is supported by volunteer staff including medical personnel like nurses and doctors. This is a free camp that is funded entirely by donations, as well as proceeds from purchasing Paul Newman products.

Caelen is leaving for cardiac camp on Tuesday and he can’t wait to go back. He gets to be around other kids with heart disease just like him. These kids have all experienced surgeries, procedutes, tests, transplants, countless IV pokes, and so much more. And this is their opportunity to get a break from all of that, and be in a safe environment at sleep away camp, just like regular kids.

So please purchase Paul Newman products when you’re at the store, because Caelen is one of the kids that directly benefits from that purchase, along with thousands of other campers.

06/06/2025

Caelen had his 3 year cath with biopsy today at UF. Everything was good with the cath and his pressures are the same as they were 2 years ago. The biopsy will take a few days, but the team isn’t anticipating any rejection.

It was a very long day, and today’s recovery was rougher than usual. So we did what we always do, visit Target and then Ford’s Garage for dinner.

This was Caelen’s last appointment at UF before his care is transitioned to Joe DiMaggio. It was sad knowing that we’re not going to see the team that saved his life anymore. We even ran into his surgeon, Dr. Bleiweis, in the hallway and gave him a big hug, and thanked him again for saving Caelen’s life. I can’t believe I forgot to get a picture of them together. Kicking myself now.

Thank you UF, thank you to the transplant team, thank you to Dr’s Fricker, Pietra, and all of the Nurse Practitioners that helped Caelen (and I) on the way. 4.5 years after driving up for the transplant evaluation, we will go home to Jupiter with Caelen’s still healthy and grateful heart.

And thanks to our village in Gainesville that took care of us and got us through. We love you all. Go Gators 🧡💙🐊

05/11/2025

Blessed to spend Mother’s Day with Mimi and the cousins.

Wishing a very Happy Mother’s Day to all the Super Mom’s, especially Caelen’s Donor’s mom 💐

05/06/2025

Cinco de Hearto 💚♥️🫀

Happy 3 year transplant anniversary Caelen!

You are blessed my child with so many good things in your life, and today I am also blessed, and thankful to your donor and his family for giving you the gift of life.

Today we celebrated you with heart shaped donuts at school, heart shaped cookies, and bowling with your friends. And balloons, because who doesn’t love balloons? You did not appreciate the early morning wake up call from the dogs, but that’s just their way of saying happy anniversary. 

Forever grateful to the donor and his family. You remain in our hearts and prayers, and I hope that you found peace today. Thank you 💚

And without Caelen’s amazing transplant team at the University of Florida, and his rockstar cardiologist Dr David Drossner, none of this would be possible. Thank you for believing in us, thank you for seeing it through, thank you for saving him.

04/30/2025

These pictures are from 4 days before Caelen got the call that a heart was available for him.

Our good friend Paul Seaman came up to visit us in Gainesville and took us kayaking down the Itchetuknee River. The next day he carried Caelen down to Devil’s Millhopper sinkhole, and all the way back up.

We had no clue that life was about to change in the best way.

In 5 days it will be 3 years since Caelen got his new heart, and his second chance to live. Thank you to his donor and their family. I hope that one day we will get to meet ❤️

04/03/2025

3 years ago I got the first call that a heart was available for Caelen, and that I needed to bring him to Shands at 5:00 am to check in. That was a really long night, neither one of us slept, and there were a lot of tears.

My mom raced back from South Florida, and neighbors jumped in to help with the dog for what we thought would be a long journey.

The MRI that day showed that Caelen needed not just a heart, but the pulmonary arteries as well. So he was discharged and we went home and slept.

A lot more testing was done in the weeks that followed, and Caelen was put on “pause” on the transplant list until the team had a better understanding of what he truly needed for a successful outcome.

Then 1 month and 1 day later, the call that saved his life came.

The pics below are from that first “run-through” and just popped up in my memories. I’m grateful that I took them. I was trying to hold on to every last memory I could in case things didn’t go as planned. But, wow am I so grateful that they did 💚🧡💙