Keeten Heskett deserves credit as an ambassador for Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. He rides the halls greeting everyone from a wheelchair with an attached IV pole. Despite the medical mask he wears, all can see 1 this 2/2 year-old’s smile.

“He makes his rounds to visit all the nurses and doctors and other parents,” his grandmother Vickie Heskett said. He offers a friendly face, a source of inspiration for parents with critically ill children, she said.

But today, he probably is riding his Big Wheel through the halls.

“We took it down there to him this week,” reported his mother Lacy Heskett.

“He loves to ride four-wheelers with his dad,” she said. “He loves Big Wheels, tricycles. He loves to ride in vehicles, ...

“Anything that goes fast.” 1

“He’s just a typical 2/2 -year-old boy,” Vickie Heskett said. “He’s a happy little boy, except when he wakes up at nap time. He’s a little cranky then.”

Keeten has reason to act cranky.

He has spent much of his life in the hospital.

Keeten was born with a hereditary condition that aff ected the valves, arteries and other parts of his heart, Vickie Heskett said. He has undergone four open heart surgeries to correct the problems as he grows. Doctors told his parents, that despite future maintenance surgeries, he would be healthy, she said.

But then, about Christmas time, Keeten came down with whatseemed to be a cold or flu, but he wasn’t getting better.

“He walked out of his room dressed up, ready to go, and said, ‘OK, I’m ready to go see the doctor,’” Vickie Heskett shared of an incident that happened at the home of his other grandmother, Claudia Reynolds.

“Doctors weren’t sure if it was the flu or if his heart was failing,” she said. “They can’t fi nd anything bacterial or viral.”

Doctors in January added Keeten’s name to the organ transplant list as a highest priority for a new heart. He won’t be able to leave the hospital until he has a transplant, Vickie Heskett said.

PRAYERS FOR KEETEN

Vickie Heskett takes Keeten with her to worship at Ridgeview Baptist Church in Fayetteville.

Ridgeview Baptist now presents free concerts, with love off erings to go to the family. The project is called “Have-a-Heart Benefi t Concert,” explained member Connie Stave.

The church presents gospel music at 6 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month.

“It’s open for all who want to hear the message,” Stave said.

“The concerts are an easy way to get the faith message out,” she continued, “but the church wanted to do more.”

“When Keeten’s needs are taken care of, we will keep doing the concerts, with the money going to other ministries like Shoe Box Ministry or Loving Choices.”

Eddie Smith performs in the church Saturday. This singersongwriter sings country gospel and played and traveled with the Williams Family, according to information provided by Stave.

He released several recordings, including CDs “It Had To Be” and “Eddie Smith Country Gospel.”

“He sounds just like Willie Nelson,” Stave said.

Rocky Bell, pastor of Crossroads Community Church in Hindsville and former minister of music at First Baptist Church in Springdale, joins him. Also, Mark Childers plays acoustic guitar, and Everett Watkins plays electric bass.

“I’m humbled,” Vickie Heskett said of her church’s support.

“What everybody has stepped up to do has me on my knees.” LOOKING FORWARD

Keeten’s illness has placed a strain on the Heskett family’s finances. His mother took a leave of absence from her job to care for Keeten. Her mother, Claudia Reynolds, shares with the daily caregiving.

Lacy Heskett said the money from the love offering will be used to get their home ready for Keeten to return after his transplant.

Families must clear their homes of organisms and create a pristineclean environment.

“So he doesn’t get sick when he comes home,” Lacy Heskett said.

In fact, she and Keeten’s dad, Floyd, helped the family of anotherarea transplant patient clean their house.

After three heart surgeries of her own when she was a child, and Keeten’s history, Lacy Heskett seems to be taking Keeten’s illness in stride.

“I’m kind of used to it,” she said. “I’d like to have him home, but I know, when he’s at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, he’s in the best hands possible. I know he’s somewhere that he will be taken care of.”

For Keeten, too, it seems all in a day’s work - except for needles, his family reported. In addition to lifting spirits, he helps scan his bracelet and holds the thermometer whenhe gets his temperature taken four times a day.

“He loves electronics,” Vickie Heskett said. “When I show up he sticks out his hand and says, ‘Phone.’ If I’m down there, you know you are going to get text messages and phone calls that hang up on you.”

Lacy Heskett and Vickie Heskett reported Keeten recorded a good week. Doctors said his heart was pumping better.

And a therapy dog visited him Wednesday. “He got to spend about 30 minutes with a puppy dog,” his mother said.

“And, this last time I left, he wanted me to bring back a screwdriver to change the batteries in his remote control car.”

Religion, Pages 10 on 04/06/2013