MILTON — Thanks to the help of a local business, 66-year-old Hank Colling and his 6-year old grandson Caleb Hallman can spend more time together.
While they never will be able to play catch or do a lot of other things most grandfathers and grandsons do, they can now load their guns and head to the range with custom-made rifles that fit onto their motorized wheelchairs.
“It means a lot to them, a lot more than it means to me, and it means a lot to me,” said Nate Hallman, the father of Caleb and son-in-law of Colling. “We don’t want to hold them back, and this is a great way for them to be one of the crowd.”
Life-changing moments
After growing up in New Jersey, Hank Colling spent almost four years in the Navy before marrying his wife, Mary. A proud submariner — still a member of the U.S. Submariners Association — Colling’s life changed forever when he was 23.
While working for Bell, he was injured during a fall, breaking his neck and leaving him a quadriplegic.
That has not stopped him. He’s been involved in various causes for the physically disabled since the injury. A member of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Colling, of Williamsport, is the president of the Center for Independent Living of North Central Pennsylvania, an organization that offers services to people with disabilities, including help with meal preparation and housing assistance.
Different kind of challenge
Caleb Hallman, the son of Nate and Jacinta Hallman, of Turbotville, was born with Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita, a joint condition that developed before birth. AMC limits the motion of the joints in the arms and legs, but can hinder movement in all joints.
“Basically, Caleb’s joints did not form properly in the womb, and he was born like a pretzel,” said his father.
Caleb has undergone numerous surgeries since birth, and he continues to work with a physical therapist at least once a week. While he walks with braces on flat surfaces, he also uses a motorized wheelchair to get around.
“He tells me that he wants to be like the other kids,” said his father. “He just doesn’t want to be different.”
Getting away
Because Nate and Jacinta Hallman want to keep things as normal as possible for Caleb — the oldest of three brothers, joining Bailey, 3, and Max, 1, — they are always looking for different outlets to keep him busy.
“I don’t want him to feel left out in anything we do,” said Nate Hallman. “He wants to walk, and he wants to do what other kids do, so I always try to find something that the two of us can do together.”
Hallman sells life insurance, and it was through his contacts that he met the guys at Keystone Sporting Arms in Milton.
Hallman has been a hunter since he was old enough to hunt, and he was looking for a way to get Caleb involved.
He often spends time at a shooting range dialing in his guns, and Caleb tags along. Although his son did not like the noise, the 6-year-old showed enough interest that his father talked to Keystone about what the company could do for Caleb.
What they came up with was a chair-mounted rifle that Caleb could fire with a jerk of his arm.
“We got to talking, and the idea sort of popped up,” Hallman said. “The guys over there are very open, and they just took off with it.”
It was something new for the Keystone, which has turned out more than 350,000 custom-made products during its 14 years in business. Workers had to find a way to mount the rifle on the wheelchair and create a firing mechanism because Caleb could not pull the trigger with his finger.
Steve McNeal, the vice president of Keystone, said it took two employees nearly 80 hours at a cost of $2,000 to tackle the task. It was the first time the company had attempted something like it. Employees came to the Hallman’s house near the Montour Preserve to make sure everything fit before they took Caleb to a range to try it out.
“Caleb was kind of shy around Steve and the guys, but when they put the rifle on there and showed him how to do it, he was hooked,” said Nate Hallman.
Joining in
It did not take long for Colling to realize if his grandson could do it, so could he. Although he had rarely shot a gun in his life (“I had to qualify in the Navy, but that was about it,” he said), Colling was certainly interested.
It was back to work for the guys at Keystone, this time with a different challenge.
While the mounting systems are similar, the trigger mechanisms are different. Caleb hooks a plate and pulls it back with his hand to fire, while Colling sets his hand on a steel plate and curls his wrist and fingers.
On the day he got his gun fitted to his chair, it took a handful of shots before Colling was popping holes in a cardboard target.
“A couple of shots, and we had that target filling up with holes,” said Colling, who won a gold medal in the Veteran’s Games in air rifle about a decade ago. “It is very rewarding and fulfilling. He and I both being disabled, this is something we can do together.”
For Nate and his wife, Jacinta, one of Hank and Mary Colling’s five adopted children, just watching the two of them together, with common interests, was more than they could ask for.
“It was great,” Nate said. “This is something we can all do together.”
“It was so rewarding to watch both the grandfather and grandson get out there and shoot together,” said McNeal. “It was fun (to be part) of it.”
For Hank and Caleb, up next is a showdown, to see who is the best.
“He and I can have our own little competition,” Colling said. “It should be exciting.”
What is Caleb looking forward to the most about the challenge? “Winning,” he said simply.
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