ELKTON, Md. — Two kids from Elkton, both diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that led to cancer in both of them just three months apart.
A memorial 5K will take place April 13 to help the family and bring awareness to childhood cancer.
Dajia and Jordan Blount met at a young age. Sweethearts all through school and growing up in the same town of Elkton. Little did they know, that's not all they'd have in common.
"Lynch Syndrome, which we have one gene," said Jordan.
"It's also a cancer predisposal and it just means that we have a higher risk of getting cancer after the age of 30,” said Daija.
A genetic disorder that affected two of their children. Both their sons were diagnosed with CMMRD, Constitutional Mismatch Repair Deficiency.
“They have a higher predisposal to getting cancer and less of a chance of fighting it because their genes weren't made to fight cancer,” said Daija.
At the age of five, their son Gavin was showing signs something wasn't right.
"I had mentioned something about his eyes crossing too much,” said Daija. "But then he also wasn't eating and he was complaining that his neck was hurting.”
After testing, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Already a tragic situation that got worse three months later.
"We had cancer on the brain when Bryson started feeling down, he was sleeping a lot, he started getting these random bruises,” said Jordan.
Bryson was only three. After taking him to the hospital they were confronted with news that seemed impossible.
"Doctor came in and she was just like I’m so sorry but yes he has leukemia,” said Jordan.
Both Gavin and Bryson went through months of treatment, hospital stays, tests and surgeries.
"Gavin passed February 18 of 2023 and then Bryson passed December 19 of 2023," said Daija. "When we found out that he had CMMRD there were only 215 cases studied in the world of CMMRD, so to have two of the cases in our own home it was a lot.”
More than anything they stress the importance of genetic testing.
"A kit, it's a swab of the mouth maybe 15 seconds, you put it back in the tube you send it, it even comes with a return label everything you need,” said Jordan.
A family that lost both of their sons to such a rare condition, bringing awareness to more people.
On April 13, the Gavin and Bryson Blount Memorial 5K will take place in Newark, Delaware, starting at the Midnight Oil Brewing Company. A mission to bring financial assistance to the Blount family but also spread awareness.
Head here to sign up or donate.
