Prayer vigil held in Sioux Falls for Faulkton student

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) -Families and students from Faulkton as well as surrounding communities gathered outside the Sanford Children’s Hospital tonight to pray for Kayden Hammond.

Hammond is a junior at Faulkton High School. He was diagnosed with leukemia in January of 2022.

On September 14th Hammond was flown to Sanford Castle because he was neutropenic and later tested positive for West Nile.

Currently he is intubated and on the PICU floor.

Tonight, friends, family and classmates joined in a prayer vigil outside of Kayden’s window.

“It just started out I wanted to take a couple of the juniors his classmates, and then soon there were more students that wanted to come and there were parents and staff and then there were alumni from colleges that wanted to join,” said Darci Martinmaas, family friend.

They say this shows his impact.

“I’ve never seen anyone come together or a town or community like this come together like this, it’s awesome,” said August Kopecky, classmate.

His friends say it means a lot to be there for him.

“We used to do everything with him, hunt, fish, all the things, he was a teammate, we’ve actually been doing all those things since we were second graders,” said Layne Cotton, classmate.

They hope this vigil will help support Kayden and his family.

“As many prayers as we can get for Kayden as possible, we are praying for a miracle, and everyone is standing behind them,” said Martinmaas.

Those at the vigil were thankful for the turnout tonight.

To donate there is a fund at Dacotah Bank under Kayden Hammond.

The Faulkton FCCLA students will be doing a gift card drive for patients at the castle.

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