Fanconi Anemia: A Battle For 5-Year-Old Eli Borden's Life

OAK CREEK, WI — By all accounts, five-year-old Eli Borden seems like a normal child. He loves toy trucks, dinosaurs and expending a lot of energy playing with other kids.

Yet throughout his young life, he's always had food allergies, unusually small stature and a variety of unexplained medical complications.

The day after Mother's Day in 2017 was a tough one for Eli and his family. Parents David and Sarah Borden had Eli go through additional testing at the hospital earlier that year to see if they could learn something new about his medical situation, and that night they finally learned of his diagnosis.

"My husband called me while I was coming home from work and said we have to go upstairs and talk," Sarah said.

It was at that time they learned Eli had a genetic disorder called Fanconi Anemia, a rare degenerative blood disorder that causes bone marrow failure and early death.

Related Reading

• Donate to the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund: https://fundraise.fanconi.org/team/164911 This fundraiser runs through the end of May.
• Eli's Story : https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarrowWarsBattleForEli/
• Learn More About Fanconi Anemia: https://fanconi.org/

Fanconi Anemia has no cure and even with medical advances and advanced treatment, carriers only live into their mid-30s. Because Eli's cells can't repair routine cellular mutations and damage, contracting some form of cancer is an ominous reality that he faces as he gets older.

"Right now Eli is in mild bone marrow failure," Sarah said. "He will need a bone marrow transplant in the next two-to-three years. It will cure his blood, but not Fanconi Anemia."

After learning of Eli's diagnosis, Sarah and David Borden learned about Camp Sunshine. Held in Maine, Camp Sunshine is host every year to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. "At this camp we were able to meet 52 other families with children impacted by Fanconi Anemia," Sarah said. "The children got to go swimming and we got to meet other parnets and researchers. Now we feel we have a supportive group of people that we can go to."

They learned about the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, an orgainization to find effective treatments and a cure for Fanconi anemia and to provide education and support services to affected families worldwide.

"Even though it's closely tied with Cancer, Fanconi Anemia is such a rare disease, there's almost no government funding," Sarah said. "Because there is no funding, it all comes from us, and families like ours."

Sarah reached out to her employer, Pleasant Prairie-based E-Faucets about raising money for the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund. The company is currently hosting a fundraiser for her - and matching all donations dollar-for-dollar.

The fundraiser concludes on May 23 with a special event that includes a silent auction and a bake sale. But the best part of the day's event is when Eli gets to throw a pie in the face of the employee who's credited with raising the most donations.

"Eli is already asking me when it's time to throw the pie," she said.

Submitted Photo, Published With Permission