PALM HARBOR, Fla. — At Tampa Bay 28, we love sharing stories about local kids doing big things, especially when it comes straight from the heart.
When Good Morning Tampa Bay anchor Deiah Riley received an email from Jessica Kessel about how proud she was of her 11-year-old son Nathen, Deiah knew she had to meet him in Palm Harbor.
Nathen Kessel loves his cousin Max.
“When he says 'hi,' it's like, cutest hi ever,” said Nathen.
He lives to make Max laugh.
“Basically, like dropping a like cube or anything, and saying, 'uh oh,' after it, he will just start laughing. Or if you do peek-a-boo, he'll start laughing so much,” said Nathen.
Max is almost six and has an extremely rare genetic disorder called TBCD, which is often compared to ALS in babies. He can’t walk or sit on his own.
Late last year, Nathen told his mom he wanted to raise money and awareness to help Max.
“I felt that there wasn't a lot of people that knew about TBCD and that there wasn't enough money being raised, so I started making cocoa and selling it for Max,” said Nathen.
“It just touched my heart and told the whole family about it. What a cool kid this is that he wants to just sell cocoa in the front stand or front yard and donate it to Max,” said Jessica Kessel, Nathen’s mom.
So, Jessica helped make it happen. They set up a table in their driveway, posted messages on social media and reached out to the community. That’s when a Palm Harbor business, “LBC,” or Local Brewing Company, stepped up to help.
“The owner over there reached out and said, 'hey, we'd like to have you guys be the charity for January and do our Bingo for a Cause on Wednesdays. And we'd like you guys to be there so that we can help raise awareness for this.' And we ended up raising over $2,000 between Dec. 1 and the end of January,” explained Jessica.
Riley, Nathen and Jessica set up a video call with Max and his parents in Orlando.
“So ridiculously proud of him. Nathen's just an extraordinary kid. He's always been like this. He's always been an amazing kid,” said Helena McCabe, Max’s mom.
Nathen told Riley he’s planning to go bigger with his hot cocoa stand this Christmas. For him, it’s about giving Max a chance and hearing his sweet laugh for years to come.
TBCD is extremely rare, with fewer than 50 known cases worldwide. To build a community for affected families, Max’s mom, Helena, created the TCBD Foundation to fund research toward viable treatments.
Share Your Story with Deiah
Anchor Deiah Riley has called Tampa Bay home for more than 15 years. As a mother of two, she knows the importance of a good education and finding affordable things for families to do. Reach out to Deiah with any education related stories or activities you think she needs to know about.
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