A 'dream room' for Caleb

Caleb Speed is just like any other 6-year-old boy — unless you look closely around the Evergreen home where he lives with his mom, brother and sister.

On a corner of the Speeds’ kitchen counter are bottles of medicine Caleb takes daily to prevent mucus buildup and bacterial infections.

Atop a living-room end table sits a high-frequency chest wall oscillation vest that Caleb uses twice a day. Two long tubes attached to the machine generate an air pulse into the vest, which looks like a life jacket. The air pulses inside the vest help break up mucus and push it upward, making it easier to expel.

He goes to a doctor every three months to get a CT scan on his lungs. Even with the medicine and vest treatments, bacterial lung infections may still take hold leading to hospitalizations.

Yes, Caleb is an absolutely normal boy.

He has a passion for motocross and dreams of someday meeting professional motocross racer Carey Hart. But the medicine and the machines in his home are an important part of his life, too, because Caleb was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was just a month old.

There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, which causes thick, sticky mucus to build up in the body, but keeping the mucus minimized is a priority.

This mucus easily traps bacteria, making it difficult for the body to keep organs and lungs clean and healthy, according to WebMD.com. Cystic fibrosis  also can affect the digestive system, pancreas, sweat glands, skeletal system and reproductive organs.

That’s put a lot of extra pressure on his mother, Amber, who also is raising Caleb’s 8-year-old brother, Logan, and 9-year-old sister Hailey. As recently as October, Caleb was hospitalized when doctors found a mucus plug blocking his airway.

“He was in the hospital for 10 days and they found he was growing a few different bacterial infections,” Amber said. “He was hooked up to antibiotic IV’s over Halloween.”

It’s been hard for the family and for Amber, but now she is getting some help from local people who want to do something to let Caleb know how important he is.

Glacier High School students and teachers, in conjunction with the Flathead Valley chapter of Special Spaces, are going to design and build a “dream room” for Caleb.

Special Spaces is a Tennessee-based nonprofit with a mission to make over rooms for children with critical illnesses to create a safe and positive environment.

Paula Strickland, director of the local Special Spaces group, heard about Caleb and his family when Amber Speed’s sister, Amanda of Columbia Falls, sent an email about their circumstances.

“When I read what my sister wrote, I cried,” Amber said.

Strickland was touched by what she read, too, and started to put together a project to help the family. Unexpectedly, the project became a family affair for her, too.

That’s because Strickland’s son Tanner, a junior at Glacier High School, heard about Caleb and thought he and his fellow students should get involved.

“I thought it would be cool because there’s a lot of talent, a lot of kids here that want to help, but I was thinking smaller, like kids painting a wall,” Tanner said.

Glacier’s participation became much more than that, however, after Paula Strickland met Glacier High School Principal Callie Langohr.

As Strickland talked about the floor-to-ceiling project that involved everything from design to construction, Langohr realized this was an opportunity for her students to shine.

“I looked at her and said we can do most of that in-house,” Langohr said, noting that Glacier students were learning everything needed to complete the room in drafting, interior design, textiles and woodworking classes.

Organizations such as the National Honor Society, Student Council and Wolfpack Leadership Club could oversee fundraising efforts as well.

Junior Genna Gray volunteered to design the interior. She is using the computer program Chief Architect to create a floor plan of the room. Gray learned the program in her Housing and Interiors class.

“My role in this project is bringing all of these ideas into one,” Gray said. “Chief Architect allows you to design a floor plan and go into different views to see what the room would look like if it was built.”

Because of Caleb’s passion for motocross, a Fox Racing theme was used in the room. But because he shares a room with his brother, Logan, Caleb made sure Strickland knew to also incorporate horses, his brother’s interest.

Since the boys’ bedroom had pre-existing water damage, which caused stains on the ceiling and mold on the windows, the room has been gutted by area businesses and a new roof put on to get it ready for the Glacier students.

The source of the water damage was that there wasn’t an overhang on the roof of the family’s trailer to siphon water away from the walls. ProBuild, Lilienthal Insulation, Metal Supply and Losleben Construction donated materials and labor to various projects such as the new roof and new windows, drywall and closets.

“Everyone that’s donated time and materials, I’m so greatly appreciative,” Amber said.

A team of Glacier High School teachers now is overseeing students as they complete a variety of projects which are being incorporated into the curriculum.

Dennis Latimer’s Woods II class, for example, is designing and building bunk beds. Also involved are consumer science teachers Joan Herzog and Lori Gray and industrial arts teacher Gordon Sheldon.

A group of juniors also is trying to make the impossible possible — get Caleb Speed’s favorite professional motocross racer Carey Hart to the “room reveal” planned in April.

“Whether we can do that or not is another matter, but we dream big around here,” Langohr said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.