On July 20, 2011, Adriana's 16 year old uncle Calvin Kelley was in a skateboarding accident at Knoxville Skate Park in Tyson Park. Calvin was typical 16 year old who loved skating. He enjoyed every minute of it and his goal was to be a professional one day. His idols were people like Tony Hawk and Rob Dyrdek, and he strived to learn the tricks they could do so that one day he could be as good a skater as they are.
Calvin was hanging out with friends, skating and he attempted a trick that he didn't land. He fell, and when he did he hit his head. His friends and a father of one of the boys, watched as he layed there and they thought he was just gaining his composure but when he kept laying, the father rushed over to check on him. Calvin was bleeding from his head.
The father called 9-1-1, yet by the time the EMTs made it to Calvin he was alert and talking. The EMTs told his aunt that it was a probable concussion and they needed her to sign some papers. She and his sister loaded up for the hour drive from White Pine to Knoxville. By the time they got to UT hospital Calvin's platelets had dropped and he was in a coma. He was very critical, and he never came out of that very critical state.
The doctors shaved his red, skater boy hair, which had he woken up he would have been very angry about. They did an emergency surgery to relieve the swelling and pressure on his brain. To no avail. Days later, with his family still waiting their next step was to drill a hole to see if that would help relieve the swelling, but it didn't. After 7 days of keeping him in a medically induced coma, the doctors decided it would benefit him to bring him out of the coma and see what they could do from there. Two days later, all his medicine was gone and they did tests to see if Calvin had any kind of brain function at all. Unfortunately, he didn't.
On July 29, 2011 my daughter lost her uncle. In all reality, I am not part of the family with the exception of my daughter being half theirs but my heart will always be with the family. They have been a part of my life for so long, and even though I never married into the family they are still a part of me. My heart is broken for everyone of them, my heart is broken for myself. I've known Calvin since he was about three years old, and I've watched him grow into a sweet and thoughtful young man. I've known him through most of the stages of his life, and throughout the last seven years he has changed so much. I was blessed to know him, and hope that through this tragedy I can do something to honor his memory.
Sunday, the 31st Ron and I were sitting on the couch talking and I got upset. Trying to cheer me up he said, "why don't we see if we can get the name of the skate park changed for him and see if we can get a plaque put up." The light bulb went on, and we started looking for names and numbers. We built a Facebook page for him, and we are trying to petition the city to have the name of the skate park changed to Calvin Kelley Skate park. I will fight until this is done, I will take every step that needs to be taken and I will do my best to keep his memory alive. I will do my best to raise awareness about helmet safety, and try to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Calvin did NOT die in vain, I will not let that be his legacy. I know that we have support. In fewer than 12 hours we had over 150 likes on our page, and that number just keeps rising. I can't wait to see where this journey takes us, I do know though at the end of the road Calvin will be smiling and his memory will be forever in our hearts.
Rest In Peace Calvin. You are forever loved. 
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