The Boy Who Can't Eat

If ever there was a case for PR versus Advertising then this is it.


Within one week, a media release I sent to just two local media (the major print daily and one television station) has exploded globally.

If you don't know the name Kaleb Bussenschutt then just 'google' him. You'll find 20,900 online entries, mostly from media outlets across the world and in numerous languages. And that's just today - tomorrow there will be more.



Kaleb Bussenschutt is a cheeky and active 5 year old boy - my friend's son - who can not eat; food makes him violently ill. So he is fed through a tube directly to his stomach - 20 hours per day. I am undertaking the pro-bono PR for Kaleb and a charity bike ride initiated by his parents, Melissa and Scott Bussenschutt. Kaleb's Journey hopes to raise $100,000 by inviting bike riders (and sponsors and support crew) on a Melbourne to Adelaide bike ride in February 2010.

The money will be used to rasie the awareness of Kaleb's condition, connect him with other children with this rare condition (Kaleb has never met another person with this condition), and send him to the USA to meet specialists and other children. Can you help?

Kaleb lives wearing a back-pack that contains his 'feeding machine' so he can run around and ride his scooter. But when he has to shower, he hangs his machine on a hook close by. When he goes to bed his machine is on a stand, like a drip, next to his racing car bed.



Kaleb can only go swimming when he is not attached to his feeding machine (a window of only fours per day) and he can't play 'rough and tumble' games because he has a surgical 'peg' attached to his skin linking his stomach to the external feeding tube. If that get's damaged Kaleb will be in a lot of pain, and danger.






Kaleb can't eat his own birthday cake, or share sweets with friends. He can eat ice, water and a certain brand of lemonade (the same HUGE brand that, as yet, have refused to support Kaleb with supplies of lemonade or even a discount). But he can't share colored pencils or crayons just in case there is some food residue form another child and Kaleb puts his fingers in his mouth; which is what kids do, right?


Kaleb misses BQ chicken, salami and cheese the most. He doesn't know if he will ever taste food again. Right now, he eats ice at the table when his family eats.

He can't enjoy toasted marshmellows on schools camps or a hot dog at the football.

He doesn't know if he'll ever have his first beer (when he's of legal drinking age) or if he can take a girl out on a date for pizza or ice-cream.

He can't even enjoy a picnic for two.

Could you face a lifetime of not celebrating life's milestones with something to eat or drink? You'd struggle, right?



If you have kids, if you know kids, then help Kaleb live a life as normal as yours. Send support through making a comment here or blog about him or visit Kaleb's website ' Kaleb's Journey' and let us know what you can do, or if you'd like to donate.


Help Kaleb live a normal life - the sort of life you and your family enjoy!


Please make a comment here of support, ask a question if you'd like, tweet, blog and show your support for Kaleb Bussenschutt.

Visit Kaleb's Journey. www.kalebsjourney.org