Kale Dulaney, at center, poses with his sister Kai Worrells, at right, and a family friend, Liberty Buchanan, after the pool incident that left him in tears.
NEWTON, Ill. - A family from Olney had a bit of what appears to have been a run-in with a public swimming pool employee who may have been overly cautious, but whose concern was a little bit misplaced.
As it's turned out, that's caused something of a headache for public officials, who haven't been the most pro-active in the world after an embarrassing situation yesterday at the swimming pool in Newton.
And to top it all off...the complaint has gone viral, and now mom Erin Marie Hagen is getting messages from people all over the world as she has posted details of the incident online for all to see.
Kale at a very young age. He had surgery on his nub at 5 months.
Hagen, the mom of the little boy as well as four other children, said she took the kids to the pool in Newton instead of in Olney because Newton has warmer water (apparently using a heating element) than Olney. Hagen's son, Kale Dulaney, now age 6, was born with a defect known as Symbrachydactyly, which causes extremities to malform in the womb, wherein his left arm didn't fully form, and little nub-like appendages were all he had for fingers, on a shortened forearm. As a result, when he was still an infant, Kale had surgery to remove the nubs, and he has only a partial left arm.
That's not prevented him from having a normal childhood, however. Hagen makes a few adjustments to their day-to-day routines, and the Newton pool was one of those adjustments. Hagen said the temperature of the water in Olney hurts Kale's nub, as the family calls it, so for a little early birthday party (his birthday is July 7), they all went to Newton yesterday (June 21).
There, Kale, who is an excellent swimmer, was jumping off the diving board at the 12-foot end of the pool most of the day, and having a great time. However, when he went to get on the slide, which empties into the 3-foot end of the pool, things hit a snag: A lifeguard on duty stopped Kale, said Hagen, telling him he couldn't go down the slide because "he probably couldn't swim very well" and he might get hurt.
In light of the activity the boy was engaged in jumping off the diving board, that, said Hagen, made no sense. This was particularly underscored when Kale's height was being measured for the slide, but a two-year old was later caught by a parent going down the same slide, but the lifeguard did not catch it, Hagen said.
Hagen's family soon thereafter left, but by that time Kale was in tears. Hagen said it was because he was singled out and embarrassed in front of many other kids who were there. So she posted it to her Facebook page...and in 28 minutes, the whole situation went viral.
Hagen attempted to take the matter up with Newton city officials (as the pool is a public facility), and was told only that they would pass the information along to the actual pool manager (a city employee). That manager later called Hagen with an apology. But Hagen believes the situation is discriminatory, something she's had to put up with a lot of regarding Kale over the years, and her feelings about the situation seem to be shared with plenty of folks the world over, who are in strong support of her and of Kale. She's looking into what might further be done, so no other kids will suffer the embarrassment her son did yesterday.
In the meantime, the well-wishes are flowing in, and Hagen has just advised that Doris Brothers Trophy Shop has created Kale a trophy because "he's their hero."
Kale Dulaney and his trophy...It reads "Our #1 hero"
Worldwide support has been sent to Kale, telling him to "keep swimming." And any other well-wishes may be posted here and at our social networking pages, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest, so if you're interested in giving him some props, feel free to post it at any and all...and tell us what you think. Is it discriminatory? Was the pool employee overzealous? Or was it mere misunderstanding?