UJazz exclusive: Boozer speaks for first time on son's, family's ordeal
After son's ordeal, Jazz star ready to be a sickle-cell advocate
By Lya Wodraska
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 10/20/2007 10:08:25 AM MDT
Carlos Boozer considers his life as a finite amount of time to make his mark, his imprint on the
world.
"I always thought that meant basketball," he said.
During the past two years, he has learned the sport that has made him successful isn't his gift,
but a means to do more good than he ever conceived of doing. Now he's not just a basketball
player, but a basketball player determined to help save lives, encourage stem cell research and
act as a spokesman for a disease that humbled him more than any opponent ever has.
Boozer and his wife, CeCe, have spent the last two years living the ordeal of sickle cell disease,
an inherited disorder that affects red blood cells.
The disease affects more than 100,000 Americans, according to the Sickle Cell Disease
Association of America, and one baby out of every 400 births of African Americans has the disease.
Carmani Boozer, born on May 31, 2006, was diagnosed with the disease while still in the womb.
Boozer knew he had the trait but his wife didn't.
"When we found out, it felt like our whole universe was crumbling around us," he said. "Everything
should be about bliss. Here you're going to have this baby, everyone is happy, and then you find
out your child has sickle cell. It made us doubt everything, even ourselves."
Boozer and his wife didn't know much about the disease at first; soon they were experts. They
learned the abnormal cells have a hard time passing through small blood vessels, and that can
cause pain, blood clots, anemia and damage to organs such as the spleen, kidneys and liver.
They learned it can be a painful disease that can cause death.
"Why us?" he wondered. Now he knows.
"This is how I'm supposed to make my mark," he said. "I used to be all about basketball,
basketball. There is so much more than basketball."
Boozer missed almost two weeks of the Utah Jazz's training camp to be with his son after he
underwent a bone marrow transplant in August that hopefully will cure him of the disease.
So far, Carmani has responded well after spending 40 nights in Miami's Children Hospital during
his treatment. It still is unknown if the treatment worked, but Boozer does know his son will have a
better life if it did, and he returns to Utah a different man than the one who has spent the last three
seasons with the Jazz.
"You think of yourself as a father, brother, son, a basketball player, all these things," he said. "Now
I realize I'm so much more than that, I'm an advocate. I want to raise money, help kids who can't
help themselves. This is the beginning of a long story for me, and this is just Part One."
The 25-year-old is ready to speak out about the disease now. He wasn't while the family was
going through the ordeal, preferring to keep it private. Because high altitude can cause
complications with the disease, CeCe and Carmani lived in Miami last season, the Boozer and
his wife had spent considerable time apart since they met nine years ago on the Duke Campus
when she spied him at a book store. He was an incoming 17-year-old freshman and she was a
20-year-old senior. The age difference didn't matter. She still tracked him down through the
student directory and asked him to dinner.
"Steak, potatoes and green beans," he remembered. "She was beautiful, smart and could cook,
too. I'd told my mom I had found the one."
When Carmani was born, the disease found its one as well.
"He was such a strong, happy baby, we were praying the doctors were wrong," Boozer said. "They
weren't."
Most of their research and medical procedures came during last season, when Boozer was
producing an All-Star year, averaging 20.9 points and 11.7 rebounds and leading the Jazz to the
playoffs while his wife watched from Miami.
"I took a lot of my frustrations out on opposing teams," said Boozer with a big smile. "Basically,
she was a single mom, and I didn't want that for her."
Boozer and his wife found a new, risky treatment that involved the bone marrow transplant. They
used in vitro fertilization to give CeCe two healthy embryos with the hopes one would take. Both
did, and twins Cameron and Cayden were born July 18.
Doctors used stem cells from CeCe's umbilical cord for Carmani in the bone marrow transplant.
But first he had to undergo 10 days of chemotherapy to wipe out the old bone marrow, a time that
caused the family the most grief.
"He was so happy, we thought, 'Do we take a chance and see what life has for him or do we put
him through this,' " Boozer said. "There was a 10 percent chance he could die, and that is so
scary. You don't want your kid to be that statistic."
Boozer and his wife spent all 40 days with their son at the hospital, with Carlos taking the night
shift so he could work out in the day and CeCe staying at the hospital during the day.
"It was such a hard situation, being on the oncology floor," CeCe said. "There were children dying
every day. It wasn't a good place to be. We've seen a lot of families who didn't make it."
They didn't see each other much during that time, but it was still a better situation than last season
for the family. They usually saw each other during road games in low-lying cities such as Detroit,
Indiana and Los Angeles.
"You go play ball, play the Spurs at home or whatever, and then you shower, you dress, you go talk
to the coaches about the next day, and then you go to the family room and hug your wife and your
kids," he said. "I go there, and there wasn't anyone there. That is when I felt empty."
His teammates were there for him, which is why Boozer is more determined than ever to help the
Jazz succeed. He informed Jazz owner Larry Miller and other higher-ups of what his situation was
shortly after he learned of the diagnosis. They have supported him throughout, and Boozer scoffs
at the notion he might take an exit similar to Derek Fisher, who opted out of his contract so his
daughter Tatum could be treated in Los Angeles for a rare form of eye cancer while he plays for
the Lakers.
Boozer supported Fisher's decision but said he isn't leaving the Jazz. If all goes well, his family will
join him here sometime in January.
"We're going to lock up D-Will [point guard Deron Williams] this summer and keep all the pieces
intact and try to win a championship in a couple years," he said. "And I want my wife, son and
family to be there to see it."
That title is a great goal of his, but not his ultimate. Now he sees his basketball success as only
part of his identity. The thought of competition brings a light to his eyes, but so does raising money
and awareness to help families who can't afford the procedure Carmani had, which can range
from $300,000 to $1 million, he said.
"What if I was the guy at the gas station who couldn't afford that?" he said. "This is what I'm excited
about, to help treat this, cure leukemia. That is what is exciting to me. We used to walk the
hallways up at Primary Children's Hospital giving gifts at Christmas, and it would be hard to finish
that walk. Now, it's so scary, that hits home."