GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — To Michele Stevenson, her son Kaden means the world.

"Oh, that's my best friend," she said.

"I can't see my life without him."

But just three years ago , she almost had to.

"Kaden, got sick Christmas break 2022," Michele said. "[We] ended up finding out that he had strep, flu and he was septic, so he was in kidney, liver and heart failure."

Kaden was transferred from Flint to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, she said. After a double leg amputation, he recovered at Mary Free Bed. There, he had to learn how to live a whole new life.

"We were so unsure of how life was going to look," she recalled.

But with the help of staff at the center, who helped him through his recovery and even introduced him to wheelchair sports, his mom said her b

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