A Georgia teen was baptized in the Gulf of America as his loved ones gathered to fulfill his final wish.
Caden Speck, 18, had a mission to receive the sacrament in the Gulf, which was previously known as the Gulf of Mexico before it was renamed under President Donald Trump.
The teen is suffering from a rare form of brain cancer called diffuse leptomeningeal glioneuronal tumors, an aggressive disease that attacks the central nervous system and is typically present in male adolescents.
Speck planned a trip to visit family and his girlfriend in Florida, telling a family friend, Kristen Hancock, what he wanted to accomplish.
‘He told me that his name meant warrior. I believe it. I’ve seen that in him,’ Hancock told local CBS affiliate WTSP.
Hancock posted on social media, asking if any pastors were available to perform the baptism at the last minute.
Pastor Grayson Wells answered the call and performed the baptism with water from the Gulf at Reddington Beach on Saturday.
Hancock told WTSP that on the day of his baptism, Speck struggled to walk on the sand and couldn’t submerge in the water.
Caden Speck, 18, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022
Speck’s wish of getting baptized in the Gulf was granted on Saturday when his community rallied around him at Reddington Beach in Florida
She offered to postpone the ceremony and take him to the emergency room, but he refused.
‘That’s the light of Christ shining through him for everybody to see. That’s how we need to be,’ Wells told the outlet.
‘We’re all called to be bold for one another no matter what our circumstances are.’
Speck’s girlfriend, Jasmine Hancock, described him as someone who was ‘always laughing,’ adding, ‘He said he’s never had people care about him and be there for him as much as we have.’
Pastor Grayson Wells told local news outlet WTSP that the ‘light of God’ was shining through the teen
Even though he struggled to walk on the sand, Speck told his loved ones that he didn’t want to postpone the baptism
The teen’s family told WTSP that he planned to stay in Florida until Thanksgiving before returning home to Atlanta.
They added that Speck stopped treatment on October 28 and will potentially enter hospice care within the next few months.
The type of tumor that Speck has is extremely rare, with fewer than 100 cases reported since 2012, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Diffuse leptomeningeal glioneuronal tumors were only classified in 2016 and are exhibited through a wide range of abdominal and neurological symptoms.
