KAYSVILLE -- In March, Davis Cox played in a four-day baseball tournament, then spent time with his family hiking.

A few days later when they returned to their Kaysville home Davis noticed red spots on his skin.

"He had spots on his legs, so we watched him and then took him to the doctor. Within 24 hours he was in the emergency room," said his mother Gayle Cox.

Lab tests revealed a low platelet count; a bone marrow test confirmed the marrow was not functioning.

The once very active athlete was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, a disease of the bone marrow where the marrow stops making enough red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets for the body. Aplastic anemia is a rare disease affecting only three in one million Americans each year.

Gayle said her son has had blood transfusions and has suffered retinal bleeding causing visual impairments in his right eye.

"This is nothing genetic, it's a random virus. The whole family had been sick with a virus attack," Gayle said. But the virus affected Davis in a different way to cause this rare disease.

Davis, an eighth grade student at Kaysville Junior High, missed the last three months of school and had to complete his schooling at home.

Life in the Cox household has a new normal. Davis's siblings are able to leave the home and go outside to play but when they go back into the house they must take a shower and change to clean clothes.

"With seven people, we have a lot of laundry," Gayle said.

"Davis got a bacterial fungus infection in his sinuses and had five surgeries in seven days," Gayle said. "Everything is day-to-day at this point. Things can change in a 24-hour period."

Davis contracted the disease when class elections were in full swing at school where he was running for office. Although he wasn't there to campaign, his friends took it upon themselves to campaign for him and he was elected ninth grade vice president for next year.

"He has something to look forward to," Gayle said.

Although Davis is mostly homebound, he is able to keep in contact with his friends through texting and calling. They play games online.

He wears a mask so he can have contact with a few people and has been able to go outside to talk with friends.

A bone marrow transplant is the first line of defense for this rare disease, so Davis's four siblings were tested to be a donor. There was no match.

"It was hard on them (his siblings) not to be matches. They spend a lot of time together," Gayle said, watching movies and playing games.

Davis is taking a chemo-like therapy to boost his immune system while waiting to find a donor from the bone marrow bank. Treatment includes bone marrow or cord blood transplant and immunosuppressive therapy.

"We hope the bone marrow will help him recover," Gayle said.

"Our community is so amazing," said Gayle. She told of a group of very young children, 4- to 6-years-old, who had a lemonade stand to raise money for Davis's medical needs. They brought the money to the Cox home in a plastic bag.

Davis has good days after having transfusions, bringing some semblance of normalcy to the family. He takes daily medications and has received well over 30 blood and platelet transfusions and had many surgeries to treat the problems caused by the disease.

Davis could not be interviewed but he is quoted from the website www.daviscoxfundraiser.com

"Every once in a while in adversity sometimes we think we don't have choices. Right now I feel like a lot of my choices are being made for me. I know that ultimately... yes mom, sometimes I can use big words... that every day I have to make the choice to try and beat this, or be beaten. A lot of the time when I'm having the symptoms, the pain, the headaches, the stomach aches, the reactions, or even just think about all that I'm going through, I just feel like curling up into a ball. But I have learned that does me no good. ...

"I have learned that we can't let the things that we can't change affect how we deal with things. This disease is obviously going to change my life whether I like it or not," Davis said.

The community has come together to help with Distance for Davis. See the info box for details on events, time and place.

Those who would like to make a donation but unable to attend the event may do so in the name of Davis Cox at any Utah Zions bank.

"We have such gratitude for the community," said Gayle.

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