Not your average student

By Steph Slater, Staff Writer

Eleven-year-old Caleb Radley is a wrestler, a bowler and a top student at Thatcher Elementary School, but Radley was also born with a rare condition known as ectodermal dysplasia.

Caleb Radley’s story aired during the Mountain and Pacific time zones on “Primetime’s Medical Mysteries” on the ABC network Jan. 10. Photo by Steph Slater

Radley’s story aired during the Mountain and Pacific time zones on “Primetime’s Medical Mysteries” on the ABC network Jan. 10. The media story has developed national and local attention just in time for Ectodermal Dysplasia Awareness Month, which will be observed in February by the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias.

Radley’s mother, Jill, said she wanted to help bring national attention to the condition to raise awareness and offer support to other families affected by ED. Many families are not aware their child has ED because the condition is often misdiagnosed.

“The ED syndromes are considered rare, with an estimated one to seven in 10,000 births resulting in a child being affected, according to the Birth Defects Encyclopedia. ED affects development or function of the teeth, hair, nails and glands,” Jodi Edgar Reinhardt, NFED director of public relations, said.

Jill said the doctors knew of Caleb’s condition before he was born in 1995, and they were concerned about the delivery. He could not be bundled up like other newborns or put into a warming bed because of his condition. The medical staff also had to use mild lotions and cleansers when cleaning him.

“He’s just a typical fifth-grader who doesn’t like lotion anyway. He just wants to have fun,” Jill said.

Radley is active on the wrestling team in Thatcher and also bowls with the Safford Youth Bowling Club. He also plays the tuba in the fifth-grade band and has recently taken an interest in playing the electric bass guitar. He earns straight A’s in school but said he does not like homework.

“My best subject is math, but it’s not my favorite. I like reading and science because there’s not a lot of homework, and it’s fun to mix things like calcium chloride with other things to see what happens,” Radley said.

Following the directions on assignments and listening to his teacher are Radley’s reasons why he gets good grades, but he believes he just has a knack for figuring things out.

“I want to be a weapons engineer or a CEO so I can be rich someday,” he said.

A unique result of ED was that Radley was also born without fingerprints. His rare condition caused quite a headache for the new high-tech identification scanner at his school, which was not able to read his fingers.

“The “Primetime” television show focused on how he does not have readable fingerprints and showed him in the lunch line at school, playing soccer and just being a normal kid,” Ora Allred, Radley’s fifth-grade teacher, said.

Allred, who has taught for 34 years, said she has been impressed with Radley’s personality, especially his unique sense of humor.

“He doesn’t use this condition as an excuse to not work hard or do things everyone else his age is doing,” Allred said.

Radley’s parents, Jill and Howard, also have high standards for him and have not allowed him to use ED as a crutch in any way, Allred said.

Because Allred’s class has more than one student with a rare condition, she said she feels honored to be their teacher and watch these students turn into successful people.

“It makes me feel good to see them achieve and do well with their conditions, and I can tell they are going to make it in life,” she said.