In fact, his determination has helped him through procedures that help him walk and, now, to be recognized as a National Champion Kid for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Caleb’s father, Joshua Schauman, said that Caleb’s story began several years back when they realized he was having difficulty walking.

“We spoke with a number of specialists and eventually got in contact with Oishei Children’s Hospital (in Buffalo), where he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy,” Schauman said. “He was not able to walk independently and had to rely on a walker or crutches. While we were at the hospital we spoke with the clinic about doing a procedure called selective dorsal rhizotomy.”

A selective dorsal rhizotomy is a procedure that reduces muscle tightness in children with cerebral palsy by selectively cutting specific nerve roots in the spine that are sending abnormal signals to the leg muscles, according to Mayo Clinic. The procedure is typically performed on children between the ages of three and ten.

Schauman said that they were told the procedure — performed by Oishei Children’s Hospital Doctor Renée Reynolds — would take a few hours and then the recovery time would take over a year as Caleb would have to learn to reuse his legs.

As a National Champion Kid, Caleb Schauman gets to go around to different national events and share his story, including at Children’s Miracle Network Hospital’s children’s hospitals week.

“Everything went extremely well,” Schauman said. “Caleb can now walk short distances without assistance, though he still needs a hand to hold on to for longer distances. He can go up and down hills, and he can jump, which is something we didn’t think would be possible.”

Caleb’s success story put them in touch with Oishei’s foundation and the Schauman family allowed the Buffalo hospital to share his story in their media posts. This then led to Caleb and his family being invited to different events, including meeting Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

“At the end of the full year we were asked by our team at Oishei if they could submit our story to a broader network, which we agreed to, and then we were invited by the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals for Caleb to be a National Champion Kid and represent New York State and share his story nationally,” Schauman said.

According to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital’s website, every year children’s hospitals that are a part of the network identify a child as a champion to “serve as the face for children treated at their local children’s hospital.” These National Champion Kids spend their year advocating for the charitable needs of children’s hospitals across the United States and Canada, raising awareness of the ongoing need for donations to support children’s hospitals.

Most recently, as a National Champion Kid, Caleb and his family traveled to Orlando, Florida for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital’s children’s hospitals week at the beginning of April. Schauman said they were told that this is the first time someone locally has been selected as a champion and were able to participate in this week, sharing their story, meeting some well-known people, and having what Schauman described as a “full circle moment”, seeing where the donations that go into the small boxes at cash registers in some stores go.

Pictured are Caleb Schauman and Heather Ly Wesolek, the family’s liaison from the Oishei’s Foundation.

In the future, Schauman said Caleb does qualify for other events that the team reaches out to them about, although some he is unable to go to such as a recent event in Dayton, Ohio. Schauman said continuing on, the Buffalo team will continue to reach out to them and when they can make their schedules work they will go to other events to continue to tell Caleb’s success story.

“We still don’t fully know what this all means,” Schauman said. “This was our first time doing anything like this in Orlando. We just want to keep sharing Caleb’s story and raise awareness of what Oishei and Dr Reynolds are doing. We are willing to go to any event and raise awareness that when the cashier asks you for a one dollar donation, this is what that goes to, and to keep spreading Caleb’s story.”

Every opportunity to talk about Caleb and the procedure is a surprise, Schauman said, adding that they have no idea where this is going to go. He said that Oishei has more resources than people may think, and that taking time to donate to children’s hospitals is important.

“Local families appreciate it and it really gives more resources for those who need assistance,” Schauman said.