During four years of cancer treatment, 17-year-old Kaleb Buck and his family have relied on the support of the community to help them cope with the disease.
Now, they’re asking for thoughts and prayers once again.
The Franklin community is invited to a prayer rally for the Bucks at 2 p.m. Sunday at Franklin Community Middle School. The event will give people a chance to gather together in a showing of solidarity for the family, organizer Buzz Bay said.
“It really helps the community. I always hear from people asking ‘What can I do to help?’ Cards are nice, but this is something physical that people can do,” he said. “This is an opportunity to feel like they’re doing something.”
Kaleb was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that starts in the bone tissue, when he was 13. The tumors have returned two different times, requiring years of chemotherapy and two separate 35-round sessions of radiation.
Now a senior at Franklin Community High School, he was in the middle of chemotherapy after additional cancer was found in his lungs. Last week, doctors found tumors covering his spine, shoulders, upper arms and legs, ribs, pelvis and knees.
Radiation has been halted, and the family is asking for prayers that the chemotherapy works, Bay said.
“It was devastating news,” Bay said. “Doctors are trying to decide what to do now.”
Bay, a cancer survivor himself, has been working closely with the family. Much of it has come through the Franklin Strong movement that has become an umbrella campaign by the community to raise money and provide support for local families struggling with disease or tragedy. Much of the effort has been directed towards children and teens who have been diagnosed with cancer.
“We as Franklin Strong, as a community, always rally. When I went through my cancer, we went through this thing called a ‘prayer rap’ at our church,” Bay said.
“When I was over at (Kaleb’s) house, they really wanted to do that.”
The Bucks are providing Bay with six requests they hope that participants focus their prayers on. Prayer sheets will be handed out so that people can continue praying at home.
“People can really lift this family, show support for this family. This is a critical time for them,” Bay said.
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Kaleb Buck prayer rally
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Franklin Community Middle School, 625 Grizzly Cub Drive
Who: The entire community is invited to come together and pray for Kaleb Buck, a 17-year-old Franklin teen battling Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of cancer.
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