FACES of MAINE
Who are the people in Maine? What is life like? This photographic series introduces you to a few "Mainers" and gives you a view into a moment of their lives.
CALEB FARNUM
Staff photo and caption by Gregory Rec
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Caleb Farnum is fidgety. He twirls a pen, picks up the same picture for the umpteenth time and looks over his shoulder at the door every 10 seconds.
Farnum, a 10-year-old from Harrison, is as patient as any boy could be while waiting for his idol to show up.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Bobby Labonte is standing at Caleb's side. The Bobby Labonte. Last year's Winston Cup champion. The NASCAR driver Caleb has watched on television, weekend after weekend, for years.
But this is not TV. Bobby Labonte is here in the flesh. Better yet, Caleb is meeting him inside the track at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida, just hours before the start of the Daytona 500.
Caleb and his parents, Rose and Steve Farnum, were able to come to Daytona through the work of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine.
Caleb suffers from life-threatening heart conditions known as Pulmonary Atresia and Tetrology of Fallot. Blood doesn't pump through his heart the way it should. He's already been through three open-heart surgeries and seven cardiac catheterization procedures.
After the last surgery, Rose figured Caleb needed a break and some sort of reward for spending so much time in the hospital. So she contacted the foundation in Camden and told them about Caleb's love of motor racing.
"He's been watching racing since he was 4 or 5 years old," she says.
The foundation in turn contacted credit card company MBNA, which has offices in Belfast and Camden and is a sponsor of the motorsports team of Bobby Labonte and Joe Gibbs.
The company flew the Farnums down to Daytona and paid for their lodging. They also arranged transportation to and from the track, where the Farnums watched the race from MBNA's booth on turn four.
Perhaps best of all, the company arranged for Labonte to stop by and meet Caleb before the race.
In the MBNA hospitality tent, Labonte signed hats and pictures for Caleb, talked about the mechanics of race cars and told him what it's like to race along at 180 mph.
Just before leaving, Labonte asked Caleb who was going to win the race today.
"You are, of course," Caleb answered shyly.
"All right! That's what we like to hear," Labonte said, giving Caleb a big smile and a thumbs-up.
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