Walmart Heart program honors Jeffersonville teen set for kidney transplant

CLARKSVILLE — Fourteen-year-old Caleb Smiley has spent his life in and out of hospitals.

He was born with gastroschisis, or with his intestines outside of his body. The condition has led to a constellation of health complications, causing a multi-organ transplant 11 years ago.

Next month, he will receive one of his father's kidneys and will spend six months in a Pittsburgh hospital.

But Saturday, for a few brief hours, Caleb could forget all of that.

The Jeffersonville resident was surprised to learn that he was honored by the Walmart Heart Program, a philanthropic effort that supports children with health challenges.

Caleb became an honorary Walmart truck driver in a parade from Green Tree Mall to Walmart in Clarksville. A line of Walmart employees awaited him at the entrance, clapping as he arrived. He then received gifts and cake — as well as a $1,000 check for medical expenses.

Caleb said it was the "best day of [his] life."

"It was unexpected, but very nice," he said.

Walmart Heart was founded 10 years ago, when a group of four truck drivers got together after a meeting in Bentonville, Ark., where Walmart is headquartered and started talking.

Greg Carter, who was one of those founders, said the group decided they wanted to do something to help others.

"We do this because we care about children," Carter said. "We think we have a tough day, until we see someone who's had a real tough day. This young man has had a tough time."

Since then, the program has helped thousands of children across the country. For truck drivers, the day is "off the clock."

"A lot of our children have passed away, but we give them the best day we can for that day," Carter said. "And their family — they need a reprieve from all the heartache they go through. We want to let them know that we care about them."

Walmart truck driver Mike White, who knows Caleb through his grandmother, suggested Caleb for the program. He thought he deserved to have his own day, after all the time he's spent in the hospital.

"This is his life," White said. "He's never thought anything different, he's never had a life anything different than this right here."

For Caleb and his family, his health complications have been met with good fortune and good people.

In 2006, the family found out Caleb needed a small bowel, liver and pancreas transplant.

"At that point, we didn't even have hopes we would find a hospital that would list him because of line access issues," mom Keisha Smiley said, of his major arteries that had clotted off and wouldn't accept an IV.

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh did list him. The family spent nine months there after the transplant. The years that followed were interspersed with hospital trips.

Things were going well until this summer when "it was like a light switch went off." Caleb's kidneys were failing.

His father, Eric Brooks, stepped in and discovered he was a match.

"He needed it, so I was ecstatic," Brooks said. " ... He needed to have this in order to save his life. He had a lot of people step forward to be able to donate just in case I wasn't a good match. For time purposes, he needed that."

The Pittsburgh hospital put a rush on his care, scheduling a date for early January.

"This has all happened within less than a month and a half," Keisha said.

Father Eric said Saturday's festivities gave the family a chance to "feel like we can breathe for just a second."

"This has been the first day in a long time that I feel like he hasn't had to go into the hospital and have anything done," Keisha said. "I want him to be a normal teenager for a day, no worries. This has been amazing, not only for me but I'm sure the entire family."

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