Caleb first joined Community Connections in 2020 or 2021, I honestly cannot remember. He was referred by his PT at Pediatrics Plus to come out and try TOPS soccer. Caleb was instantly hooked. After that he tried Karate, tennis, and Pet Club (he has a special place though for Pet Club due to his love of all animals), and he is interested in more activities than we are able to do. He hopes to try acting, golf and volleyball in the future and recently became interested in football, so that may be on our radar as well. Caleb was born with a genetic condition called Nemaline Myopathy, because of this genetic defect he has hypotonia (low muscle tone), and other Developmental Delays. His muscles do not work or develop as well as most. He has tried sports with peers his age but everyone quickly sees Caleb just cannot run, jump, and play like other children his age. He fatigues extremely fast and has lots of pain in his legs and other limbs most days. He is only 7 years old and honestly he doesn't let this slow him down but he has begun to realize, or other kids have pointed out, his limitations and his skills and abilities are not that of his classmates. When he is at Community Connections though he doesn't notice these things. Caleb git his first trophy from Community Connections and was so proud!
We would love it if more programs were closer to home for us, we live in Cabot and most central AR activities are in Conway and/or Little Rock. He has been limited to weekend activities only just cause it is too hard to get out to Conway or LR after school and me working in LR.
Thank you to community connections for all you do for these kids and families like ours and thank you to Mr. Josh at Pediatrics Plus for telling us about this program.