Welcome to Kevan's Page . . .
We lost our beautiful son Kevan, in a single car accident on May 30, 2009. Kevan was an only child and a miracle child at that so we were devastated at his loss. I dedicate this page to him and his memory, he was what made our lives full and blessed. Many people have emailed me and told me how much they enjoyed my pictures of Kevan on the photo gallery page so I decided it was time to give my special kid his own page on my web site. I hope you enjoy it and can get a glimpse into the life of our amazing kid and that it will uplift and encourage you when you have those days that you think you can't overcome a problem or you think you won't survive the terrible two's or the terrible teens. You will, take heart, your children are blessings, just hang in there and do whatever it takes to help them become the person God intended for them to be.
Hugs,
Tina McCulloch
Kevan at 6 weeks in an "old tyme" photo.
Our son was conceived after my husband had testicular cancer and we were told we wouldn't be able to have children. God had other ideas and two years after my husband's cancer, we were expecting Kevan. We were absolutely delighted! My pregnancy went well but when Kevan was born, he was blue and wasn't breathing. His one minute apgar was one and his 10 minute apgar was one. It looked like this baby we had so wanted and prayed for was not going to live. Kevan always was rather stubborn and he decided that those numbers didn't mean a thing so he began to fight and within a couple of hours was crying lustily right along with the other babies in the nursery.
Still, his oxygen deprivation had left him with some learning difficulties and he struggled throughout his early years with both developmental tasks and learning. We knew he wasn't going to be a rocket scientist and it really didn't matter. We just wanted to help him achieve his full potential, whatever that may be.
Kevan had the kindest heart and was always bringing in stray cats and "stray" kids. Our house always seem to be a stream of kids coming through that I was feeding or that would be spending the night. Kevan was an only child so he filled up his "family" with all the brothers and sisters he could bring home.
Kevan loved cats, a genetic trait that seems to have been passed through generations of my family. He considered them his family too and would tell people, that he had three sisters "Yummy, Smokey and Lucky." I imagine that people thought we were a hippie family as we had such unusual names for our "children!"
He had one special cat, an old Siamese that we had got for Kevan when he was three years old. She became his "other" mother, sitting by his head at night and guarding him, licking his hair at night until it was slick. In the morning we would have to wash his hair as it was full of cat spit where she had groomed him all night! She would chastise him when he left for school with her Siamese "rahhhhhhhh" that sounds like something out of your nightmares unless you know what a Siamese sounds like. She was his best friend when he needed it and he continued to add to our family with three other kittens over the years.
Kevan struggled with learning difficulties as well as a motor skill condition that made it difficult for him to do simple things with his hands like slice an onion or peel an apple. Even the motion of spreading peanut butter on a piece of bread was difficult for him. Many days I would find him eating a sandwich that was full of holes where he had stabbed through the bread while trying to get his hand to spread mayo or peanut butter.
Kevan would say to me "Mom, I am not smart like other kids . . . " I would tell him that he had something that could not be learned out of a book or sitting in a classroom, he had a kind heart. I also encouraged him to look for the gifts that God had given him and develop them.
When he hit his teen years, he began to be interested in music. He started with drums but (thankfully!) moved on as he just couldn't quite get the hand motion down. I don't know what it was, divine intervention or a talent that was just a hidden part of him, but Kevan picked up a guitar one day and it was like it they were made for each other. He was also left handed so he had to turn the guitar upside down to play it but we showed him all the other left handed guitar players who had made it and encouraged him to keep trying. One day, he went to a music shop and found a left handed guitar on the wall that someone had traded in. He was in love and we saved our pennies and prayed no one else would buy it. I will never forget the day we handed him that guitar. You would have thought he had been handed a million dollars. He practiced until he had mastered the guitar to the point that it seemed like he had played for years. People had played for years were astonished at his skill. Hands that couldn't slice an onion would fly up and down the strings of a guitar. I never did figure out how this worked but was just thankful that Kevan had took what I had said to heart and opened the gift that God had waiting for him.
We had made the decision when Kevan was small to home school him. We tried public school on several occasions for him but realized it was not going to meet his needs or help him learn in the way that worked best for him. It was okay though, we were closer than many people get the chance to be with their children because of the time we spent together and he did indeed bloom and flourish when he was able to learn in his own way.
Kevan was great with kids because of his kind and gentle nature. Kids just seemed to draw to him. He wasn't afraid to act silly or get down on a child's level. One of my favorite pictures of Kevan is of him dressed up in our Mascot Monkey costume for our "Create A Cuddly" business and interacting with the small children at our MOPS kickoff at our church. He knew to get down on their level and high five them and hugged them. What teenage boy will do that? Kevan would! He was just that kind of a kid.
Kevan loved anything electronic and became a whiz at fixing my computer when it needed it. Of course, he had to mess it up a few days in his attempt to figure out what it could do but that was how he learned. He had to be "hands on" to learn.
In the last year of his life he did a volunteer internship at a local Veterinary clinic. He had considered being a Vet tech but found that his primary love was for cats and he wanted to explore other areas of occupations. We were able to get him into a program through the stimulus money (Thank you President Obama!) and he would be able to apprentice with an oil change shop and learn about car repair. He was so excited. He never got the chance to start his job.
On May 30th, early in the morning, he left a friends house, coming back through some winding country roads. He missed a 90 degree turn and hit a tree dead center and was killed on impact. The police think he swerved to avoid hitting an animal, probably a dog that was out hunting rabbits or running the country roads. The impact severed the aortic valve in his heart and he died instantly. For a kid that lived from his heart, when his heart was too damaged, he ceased to exist.
When I think of Kevan, I think of the analogy of the bumblebee. Scientists say it should not be able to fly, its' wings are too small and it's body too big. Yet, it still flys and quietly goes about it's business of spreading life. Kevan was a miracle from the beginning, he was not supposed to have been in the first place. He was not supposed to have lived, he was not supposed to have played a guitar or any of the other things he did, but he did, because he knew God had given him the gifts that he had, he just had to believe and open those gifts.
It wasn't easy through the years, I had my doubts but kept believing that God had a special purpose for this child he brought into the world against all odds. I don't know why he was taken so young but I know he lived a life that was loving and caring and giving. He accomplished more in 19 years than many people do in a lifetime. For that, I am very proud of him, he is and always will be my miracle and my blessing.
We love you little bumblebee, keep soaring in heaven!
Welcome Home Kevan!
One of Kevan's good friends designed this for his headstone. I think Kevan would have approved.
