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KAINEN KELTNER 
Kainen Tyler Keeton Keltner
May 21, 2001 - April 22, 2006
Journal
Saturday, April 29, 2006 0:10 AM CDT Kainen Tyler Keeton Keltner. A unique and special name for a unique and special child. When we chose his name we never could have imagined just how unique and how special our son would be to us, nor could we have imagined the impact that he would have on thousands upon thousands of people across our country and even many around the world. We were so blessed the day Kainen was born and joined us here on Earth, and we are so blessed now knowing that one day soon we will join him in Heaven.
When Kainen was first diagnosed with cancer back in February of 2005, we immediately turned to God for help. We accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and we were baptized as quickly as possible. We had always believed in God and His Son, but never quite made the commitment to Him as we should have. It was difficult in the beginning for us to comprehend that if the only positive thing that came as a result of Kainen’s sickness was our getting saved, in God’s eyes it was well worth it. But now we clearly understand how important this commitment and dedication was in order for us to receive salvation and eventually be with Kainen forever in Paradise.
Over the past year we have never doubted God a single time. We sometimes asked Him the question, “Why?”, in a humble and respectful manner, but never doubted His existence or love for us. Since Kainen got sick we have received countless little signs and miracles that we cannot begin to write about now, as it would take up far too many paragraphs and too much space on this webpage. That alone is enough to explain why our faith was as strong as it was during Kainen’s battle with cancer, and why our faith remains so strong to this day.
As most of you know Kainen had Stage Four Rhabdomyosarcoma. It is an extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer. We recently heard from Kainen’s doctor that his prognosis of survival when he first came to Vanderbilt was that he’d live a month or two at the most. They could never have dreamed that his body would be medically declared “cancer free” within a few months after his first treatment, or that his body would handle the 10 months of weekly doses of large amounts of chemotherapy and the 59 days of radiation the way that it did.
Kainen was hardly ever, ever sick or felt down because of his cancer or the treatments he had to take. There was really no pain or suffering at all over the past year. We can honestly count on our hands the number of times that Kainen threw-up, had diarrhea, or had to be admitted into the hospital during that time. When he was in the hospital on a few rare occasions it was because of low blood counts and a fever, but it never turned out to be anything serious.
As his nurses will tell you, the few times that he was admitted to the hospital he always acted as if nothing was wrong with him and he would play a variety of games, including sitting up in his bed and hitting foam baseballs across the room. For most of the time, whether he was in or out of the hospital, he truly had more energy than we did. This is not because of anything that we, the doctors, or the medicine did, but a testimony to how well God took care of Kainen as he went through what he had to endure. That alone was God answering ours and many, many other people’s prayers.
In January of 2006 Kainen had a bone scan and other scans done across his entire body. The results showed he was still “cancer free” and he was allowed to stop his chemotherapy treatments nearly two months early. We were so excited and praised God as we always did regardless of our situation. Then during a period of about a week in February Kainen began complaining of severe headaches.
Now these headaches did eventually get extremely painful for Kainen and on Wednesday, February 22 it got so bad and he was acting so strange that Tonya and his PawPaw rushed him to the Vanderbilt Emergency Room. It was there that they discovered the two to three large brain tumors as well as several smaller ones growing inside his little head. The ER staff gave Kainen an outrageous amount of medicines to stop the pain and to hopefully keep him alive for an hour and a half until Jonah got up there to see him.
Well Kainen did stay alive until his Daddy made it to see him, and he lived another two months surrounded every day by us and his other close relatives. Despite the growing tumors on his brain, Kainen only had a couple of minor headaches and was only in pain a handful of times during those last two months of his life. He never suffered or required any pain medicine on a daily or consistent basis. Once again this was not because of anyone or anything that was done, but simply a testimony to how well God took care of Kainen as he went through his last days on Earth.
Kainen passed away very peacefully a week ago today on April 22, 2006 at 12:10 AM, which was his PawPaw’s 49th birthday. When he left this world he was cradled in the arms of his loving mother. He was holding on tightly to the hand of his loving father. We were both speaking to Kainen and telling him how much we loved him when his spirit left his body. We never released him to God before his passing, because we had always promised ourselves that we would never give up believing he would be healed until he drew his last breath.
Kainen was permanently healed early that Saturday morning, although it wasn’t the healing that we were hoping for. When Kainen’s heart rate was dropping and his breathing was fading, Tonya whispered to him through tearful sobs, “Kainen, whenever YOU are ready to go be with Jesus it is okay…whether it is now, tomorrow, or many years from now…it is okay for you to go be with Jesus”. As soon as those words left her mouth and entered into his ear, he immediately stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating. His spirit left his body to go be with Jesus. No more medicines, no more needles, no more cancer, and no more tumors…Kainen was healed.
In our minds we can picture Kainen in Heaven right now having such a wonderful time. We can see him walking the streets of gold with Jesus; singing praises to God with deceased family members; taking batting practice into a field of lillies with Babe Ruth; trading paint on a golden racetrack with Dale Earnhardt; wrestling with Andre the Giant; tracking tame bears with Davy Crockett; catching large mouth bass from a beautiful sparkling river with James Tatum, and sitting under a willow tree talking about how things used to be in Hazzard County with Denver Pyle (Uncle Jesse from the “Dukes of Hazzard”, with whom Kainen coincidently shared the same radiation doctor).
Over the last year we have learned many valuable lessons from Kainen about how all of us could live better lives here on Earth. We particularly discovered four little things that we can all do as parents to make each of us better at raising our children. We would like to share these four things with you now so that Kainen’s legacy might live on in each of you and his virtues may be reflected in the lives of your children.
First, teach your children about Jesus. Let them know that because of His love and sacrifice for humanity we can all live for eternity with Him and be with those we love in Heaven, if we accept Him as our Savior and obey His commandments. Kainen realized this at a very early age and it showed in the way that he lived his everyday life. Kainen talked about Jesus daily and the few times he was in severe pain he did not call out to Mommy or Daddy for comfort, but instead he would cry out to Jesus for help. There is nothing too big or too small for Jesus, and the faster your children learn that they can rely on Him the faster their lives will begin to change for the better.
Second, teach your children how to pray. Teach them that God does answer prayers and that indeed, “All things are possible with God”. Although our prayers and requests do not always get answered or turn out how we would like them, God always knows what is best and so we must accept everything He does or allows to happen. Every night that he was able, Kainen prayed. A big portion of his prayers included thanking God for his family, friends, and other blessings in his life. A small portion included asking God to heal his own little body. But the largest part of his prayers was for others…Asking God to take care of those he knew were less fortunate, heal those who were sick, and protect those who were serving our country in the Armed Forces. Prayer should be a sacred ritual in all of our lives, and it is never too early to begin teaching this to our children.
Third, love your children for who they are. Everyone is not going to be the star quarterback on the football team. Everyone is not going to be the most beautiful contestant in the beauty pageant. Everyone is not going to be the Valedictorian of their senior class. If your child becomes one of these things, be thankful to God for that blessing. But it is important that you also be thankful for who your children are and the skills they are blessed with. Of course we should always encourage our children to do their best at everything they do and to be all that they can be. Just never forget to hug your children and tell them you love them for who they are, because as we have learned all too painfully, they can quickly be taken away from us in the blink of an eye.
Fourth, spend as much quality time as you can with your children. Every chance you get take the time to eat dinner with your children. Every chance you get take the time to go to Church with your children. Every chance you get take the time to help your children with their homework. Every chance you get take the time to bring your children to the park and play. Every chance you get take the time to do something with your children. Every so often turn off the television, log off the computer, shut off your cell phone, turn down the overtime at work, and use that time to do something with your children. When you do this you will enjoy it, but more importantly your children will treasure those little moments for the rest of their lives.
Over the past week and a half we have wept and mourned more than we ever imagined was humanly possible. We have had to do things that parents should never have to do, such as planning their child’s funeral, designing their child’s headstone, and packing away their child’s things that will never be worn or played with again. It seems like everything we see or do brings back precious thoughts and memories of Kainen. It hurts us so that his little body is no longer here, but we do find comfort knowing that he is in a better place and that someday soon we will be reunited as a family.
Once again we want to thank all of you for reading Kainen’s website, for writing the beautiful words of support in his guestbook, and for praying for him over the past year. There is not a strong enough adjective in the English language to describe how good you all have made us feel in our times of worry and sorrow. There is not enough money in Fort Knox that could be used to repay you all for your acts of love and kindness. All we can say is a sincere “Thank You!” from the bottoms of our hearts.
Nearly everyone we see or hear from tells us that they are praying for God to help us get through this horrible time, and we want you to know that God is answering those prayers. God has given us the ounce of Kainen’s strength that we have asked Him for in order to carry on with our lives. There will always be a large hole in our hearts, and we look so forward to the day when this hole is filled as we meet Kainen by the river and he runs leaping into our arms and remains there with us and Kailee together, forever.
God Bless Each of You and Your Families,
The Keltner’s
Read Journal History
Hospital Information: Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital
Nashville, Tennessee
Links: http://quiltsoflove.com/quilt_2006/kainen-kk/kainen.html
http://www.makeachildsmile.org/
http://quiltsoflove.com/memorials/kainen/memorial.html
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