No stopping Caden James

Caden James Mitchell takes his place behind the center lineman under the bright lights at Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex. No. 24, Caden James is the team’s quarterback — though he sometimes plays as an outside lineman. As he waits for his coach, Tate Bowden, to finish positioning the team on the line of scrimmage, Caden James takes in the other team. It’s Hoover, the only team to have beaten his team this year. 

Despite the rivalry, Bowden said he sometimes has to remind his players to tackle their opponents. For this isn’t just any football team: It’s Vestavia Hills’ only pee wee football team, the Lil’ Rebels. The players staring back at Caden James might be his friends, the same boys he might play with on the playground.

“It’s sometimes like herding cats,” said Bowden of coaching a football team of kindergartners and first-graders. 

As head coach, Bowden helps design the plays, but he’s also out on the field moving his players into place, à la Nick Saban on A-Day.

“Last year, I had one of our best players come up to me in the middle of the season and ask me, ‘What’s offense?’” Bowden said with a laugh. “Our goal is to teach these kids the specifics of the game and mental toughness.”

At 4 feet and 65 pounds, Caden James is a fraction of the size of his favorite players on the roster of the Alabama Crimson Tide, but his passion for the sport transcends his size. 

Caden James, after all, isn’t your average first-grade football player. 

While learning the basics of football alongside his teammates, the 6-year-old is also learning how to regulate his body in ways most never have to think about. Caden James is a Type 1 diabetic. 

A real-time continuous glucose monitor on his leg automatically tracks sugar level changes in his body. An insulin pump rests near his hip, continuously pumping the required levels of insulin into his body. 

“He’s our bionic boy,” said his mother, Stacy. 

Yet despite the tubes and tiny computers that Caden James must always be attached to, Stacy said her son has never limited his aspirations. He plays baseball and basketball as well, she said.

“But football is my favorite,” said Caden James inside his Vestavia Hills home. 

As he talked about the details of his everyday life, a football bobbled back and forth between his small hands.

“Can I go play football?” he asked his mother, seemingly bored with having to explain when and why he has to monitor his blood sugar levels. 

The specifics of his condition and how to monitor it are all second nature to the Mitchell family. When doctors diagnosed Caden James shortly after his second birthday, his parents underwent two full days of training at Children’s of Alabama. It was mandatory, Stacy said, and necessary. His parents weigh everything Caden James eats to determine the sugar content and crunch out equations based on his glucose readings. They know how to inject him with insulin if his pump fails and what to do if he has another seizure.

“I can do it all in my sleep,” Stacy said. “Caden James’ pump is like an arm, he doesn’t even think about it being there.”

On his end, Caden James knows he must check in with the nurse at school before and after he eats, and he must never take off the pump for extended periods of time. But mostly, he’s concerned with being a kid. 

“His numbers spiked through the roof,” said Stacy, “the day after Halloween.  He was sneaking candy.”

“Yum,” her son said as he licked his lips and rubbed his belly. 

At school or on the football field, his diagnosis is nearly undetectable, but for an occasional “beep.” If his levels drop too low or climb too high, his monitoring device will beep, sending messages to a small computer his dad, James, keeps on the sideline. His teammates and classmates know what it means, said Stacy. 

“In class, they’ll just call out to their teacher, ‘Caden James is beeping again,’” said Stacy. “They know the drill.”

Coach Bowden said he never knew his quarterback was a Type 1 diabetic until he heard the beeping in the middle of a game.

“He told me he was low, and at first I wasn’t sure what he meant,” Bowden said. “Afterward, I was shocked. He’s a great athlete, and he’s determined to overcome any obstacles in his way.”

Caden James’ successes, Bowden said, have inspired the community to learn about and support Type 1 diabetes research. On Oct. 17, the Lil’ Rebels held a fundraiser at Starbucks on U.S. 31 to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Alabama. Then, on Oct. 27, the team held a “Blue Out to Blow Out Type 1” event during a game to help kick off the November awareness month. Players wore neon blue socks in solidarity, while the local JDRF chapter collected donations toward the cause. Blue glow sticks and necklaces dotted the crowd. 

JDRF Alabama Development Coordinator Anna Rambo said she was thrilled to be part of the event.

“The Mitchells’ story has helped raise awareness throughout the community,” Rambo said. 

To date, Caden James’ school, Vestavia Hills Elementary West, has helped raise more than $11,000 for JDRF, Stacy said. 

“We’ve been really lucky,” Stacy said. “We’ve got the support of great, local doctors, our school nurse and the community.”

As Caden James prepared for his last game of the season, he seemed confident in his abilities.

“Nobody gets inside of me,” he said of playing as an outside lineman. “Can I go throw the football now?” he asked again, eager to perfect his throws.