Andrews Boy Fights Incurable Disease

By: Alexa Williams NewsWest 9

"Whenever I ride it gets everything out of my head,'' Gage Klein, 11-year-old fighting an incurable disease, said.

For just being a sixth grader, Gage has a lot on his mind. Two years ago, he was in a motocross accident which turned into a life saving event.

"He flipped his dirt bike and it knocked him unconscious. As precaution I took him to the emergency room where we found out that the doctors were just in awe that this baby was still alive," Barbara Klein, Gage's mother, said.

Turns out, Gage has a rare incurable disease called Fanconi Anemia.

"It's bone marrow failure where his body doesn't allow his bone marrow to produce blood cell platelets. He's in bone marrow failure," Barbara said.

Gage will have to have a bone marrow transplant within the next six months to prolong his life.Unfortunately, for the Klein family, tragedy has already struck once. In 2007, they lost a son when he was just seven months old to SIDS. However, they saved the baby's stem cells at birth which gave them hope for Gage.

"They pulled the stem cells from the baby to see if they would match Gage and they were a perfect match, but unfortunately we cannot use those because the baby has passed and we need fresh blood, we need fresh skin cells," Barbara said.

The family has still not found a match.

"We haven't found a donor, we're still looking for a donor," Barbara said.

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Andrews Boy Fights Incurable Disease