Kaleb Klakulak is a 12 year-old boy who wanted just one thing for Christmas: to purchase a headstone for his best friend Kenneth “K.J.” Gross, who tragically passed away back in May.

Kaleb has spent the months since his friend’s passing by fundraising and doing odd jobs all over Detroit like as collecting bottles, to raise money to buy the gravestone.

“I didn’t want his mom to go to an unmarked grave,” Kaleb explained.

K.J. had been in a battle with leukemia since he was an infant, and he was able to beat the disease twice. Sadly, earlier this year, K.J. ended up back in the hospital with congestive heart failure due to side effects from the treatments. His mother, who has six children, had to quit her job to care for him. This was particularly difficult because she was caring for her own mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

“We packed up and we moved into the hospital,” said K.J.’s mother, San Singleton. “And everything that they did for K.J. thinking it would give him a better quality of life, it did the opposite.”

While K.J. was in the hospital, Kaleb would visit him often to play video games and paint with him. San said that K.J. would always look forward to his visits and that they were the highlights of her son’s final weeks.

Kaleb explained that he wanted to help K.J.’s mother as much as he could, and that it made him sad that she could not afford a headstone for her son.

“I love Ms. San,” he said. “I was sad she couldn’t afford it. I wanted people to be able to find (K.J.’s grave) when they went to see him.”

After months of work, Kaleb successfully raised the $2,500 he needed to purchase K.J.’s headstone. San burst into tears when he told her the news.

“I knew that they loved my son when he was alive,” she said, “but I really really know that they love my son because even in his passing they’re still trying to help me.”

When the rest of his community heard what Kaleb had done for his friend, Ira Kaufman Chapel in Southfield announced that they would donate a headstone.

“The story really touched my heart,” said Ira Kaufman owner David Techner. “Here’s this 12-year-old kid who saw a need and did what needed to be done. So I’m just following this young man’s lead.”

San chose a simple inscription to be put on the gravestone:

“K.J. Gross, cherished son, brother & friend.”

Kristy Hall, Kaleb’s mother, said that she was not surprised at all by what her boy had done.

“Someone asked me if I was surprised that Kaleb wanted to do this, and I said, ‘absolutely not. Not even a little,’” she said. “I am surprised at how this took off. It amazes me. It’s a little surreal.”

It touches our hearts to see what Kaleb just did for his friend! Find out more about this in the video below.