Kelty can run – Calling on the Nation

If you have been visiting Oilersnation for a while, you’ll probably remember a little girl named Kelty. Back in 2014 2014, a then four-year-old Kelty was dealing with spastic, quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy and required an expensive muscle lengthening surgery in the United States. The Nation rallied and many items were donated from across the city and the country, with daily auctions being held on the site with the sole purpose of raising money for this surgery. Friends of the Nation were able to raise $5050 to help her get that surgery and be able to live more comfortably. Kelty can’t walk without support but her parents and family are all runners and they dared to dream that maybe Kelty can too.

You can read the original call to action from way back when from Wanye Gretz, but this line was just about as “quintessential Nation” as you can get:

I wasn’t lucky enough to be with the Nation at the time, but Baggedmilk was and so I asked him if he wouldn’t mind speaking to his experience helping Kelty back in the day running the auctions and raising the funds.

BM- When we first heard about Kelty, we found out how incredible her spirit was and how resilient of a person she is, and there really was no other option but to try and help. With that simple idea in mind, we started reaching out to the community to see if they too wanted to lend a hand, and as always, the Nation rallied around the idea and did everything possible to help. People were donating items from their personal collection, money, time, help with logistics, and anything else they could think of just to lend a hand. It really was beautiful to watch and participate in.

BM- It was and everything. There were merch donations, memorabilia of all types, offers for experiences…  You name it. After getting the item or donation, I’d load them all up into a spreadsheet and run a manual auction on the site, which basically meant I was refreshing a spreadsheet all day until new bids came in.

BM- There are no better human beings on earth than Nation Citizens because of their willingness to help in any situation. In this case, Kelty needed support and the Nation was there for her as best they could and I think that’s pretty special. The generosity that everyone showed back then was pretty incredible and that’s why I know we can help her out again by sharing the GoFundMe page to not only get them to their goal, which the page is fast approaching but I think we can get the totals well beyond that as well.

That’s where you come in Nation. The family has set up a GoFundMe page to raise some money to get Kelty a specialized, Canadian-made running wheelchair that she’ll need to be able to enjoy her own meaningful outdoor activities. They have done an amazing job raising funds already, but why wouldn’t we try and put this thing over the top and then some.

Kelty is now 11 years old and just as wonderful as ever, and we want to make sure we do anything we can to help her live her best life.. Let’s take that goal and blast through it and every other glass ceiling we can.