Over 200 vehicles come to truck rally to support legally blind boy

AMMON — What was initially supposed to be a rally of only 10 to 20 trucks for a legally blind boy exploded and turned into hundreds of vehicles and people wanting to support the child.

Kaycen Large, 7, is from Rigby and has two siblings. His mother Kylara Large says that he was diagnosed with Batten disease. Symptoms generally include progressive vision loss leading to blindness, seizures, movement disorder, and dementia. Developmental skills like standing, walking, and talking may not happen or are gradually lost. 

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A specialist who works with Kaycen took him to iJump in Idaho Falls a few weeks ago. A group of teenagers between 15 and 19 years old noticed Kaycen.

JR Chapman was one of the friends in the group that played dodgeball with Kaycen. He learned Kaycen was legally blind.

He and his friends decided to throw a truck rally for Kaycen over the weekend after finding out that he loved trucks. In a previous story on EastIdahoNews.com, Chapman said he related with Kaycen because he has a heart condition and has had surgeries for it.

“I have so much love for those guys. I can’t even begin to explain how I feel toward them. They hung out with Kaycen for maybe an hour and the way that Kaycen impacted them has turned around and impacted an entire community. It’s amazing that a group of kids would do this for somebody,” Large said in regards to the truck rally.

The truck rally called “Kickin it with Kaycen” happened Saturday in the Cabela’s parking lot in Ammon.

Before Large and Kaycen showed up to the event, they were picked up from their Rigby home.

“There was a gentleman who reached out to JR saying that he’s in an exotic car club and wanted to know if he can drive us to the event and every little boys dream was made true when Kaycen got to ride in a Lamborghini,” Large said. “They had a police escort, they blocked off my entire road and it had to have been 10 exotic vehicles easily just to take us.”

She said the event was unbelievable, amazing, and overwhelming all at the same time. Kaycen got to see his newly made friends again, while his mom got to meet them for the very first time in person.

“I got to meet the kids who made it all possible. I met JR’s mom, who is an absolute angel. I started crying a time or two when talking to her,” she said.

The parking lot at Cabela’s was packed with vehicles and hundreds of people.

“About 216 to 220 vehicles showed up. We were very surprised,” Chapman said. “It went amazing! He (Kaycen) was just jaw dropped—he went around feeling all the trucks.”

Chapman spoke at the beginning of the event with a microphone and thanked everyone for coming. He asked for a round of applause for Kaycen.

“Not many people know, but I have a heart disease. I want to (give) the same experience I had to him and make this whole day special for him,” Chapman said in the video, talking about Kaycen. (Watch the video in the player above.)

Chapman said he and his friends had a sign for Kaycen set up where people could write their signatures and over 500 people signed it.

There were three boxes full of brand new Hot Wheels that were presented to Kaycen. Large said there were easily 2,000 Hot Wheels. He was still in the process of opening all of them as of Monday. She said that was the highlight of Kaycen’s day. He also enjoyed a revving contest.

“You could tell he liked the rev up contest because whenever there was a really loud one, he would stop and lift his head up. He was listening to it,” Large said.

A raffle and donations at the event raised over $5,000 including a $2,500 contribution from Ball Ventures.

“These teens that are investing time and interest into Kaycen and his family is so inspiring, we hope our donation can be inspiring to others,” director of public affairs Liza Leonard said in an email to EastIdahoNews.com.

All of the money raised was meant for Kaycen and his family for any house expenses and medical bills.

“I bawled when I got home. (JR) announced how much they had raised but I guess I was not paying attention. It wasn’t until I got home and started counting up the money that I lost it (cried),” Large said.

She explained that she had opened up a savings account for Kaycen.

Chapman said he and his friends are not done raising money for Kaycen. If anyone is interested in donating or who was not able to come to the event, they can still donate. Chapman has set up an account with Mountain America Credit Union called “Kickin it with Kaycen.” He says he is accepting donations for Kaycen and his family until Friday.

“We are going to throw another meet (rally) during springtime and summer just to have him come back out and hangout with all of us down in Rigby so that it will be local to them,” Chapman said.

Large said the event over the weekend meant so much to her and her son. She is grateful to the group of friends and for the community coming out to support.

“It’s definitely something I’ll never forget,” she said.