Trayson was just 10 days old when he was diagnosed with sickle cell disease. It quickly began shaping his childhood. At a year old, RSV landed him in the hospital. Months later, he experienced his first severe pain crisis. “It hit in the middle of the night,” said his mother, Amy. “He was crying and pointing at his arm, yelling ‘Bonk, bonk, bonk.’ That was his word for pain.” As Trayson grew, the complications multiplied. By age 5, he had been airlifted out of Montana three times for specialized care in Colorado. He endured four episodes of acute chest syndrome — two of which nearly took his life. Then, an ultrasound revealed he was at high risk for stroke. By the time he started kindergarten, doctors warned he might not live into his 20s without drastic intervention. His family made the decision to pursue a bone marrow transplant, a cure for sickle cell disease that came with extreme risk. “At the time, it was only 50 percent survival,” Amy said. “It was like a year in the making ...