Cayden Boozer is learning to enjoy solitude.
This fall marks the first time the Duke men’s basketball guard and his two brothers are all living separately in different cities. While Cayden plays his sophomore season with the Blue Devils, his twin and former college teammate, Cameron Boozer, is adjusting to life as an NBA rookie with the Memphis Grizzlies after he was the No. 3 overall NBA draft pick out of Duke. Their older brother, Carmani, is a former baseball pitcher who is taking classes at Florida International University in Miami.
That means Cayden Boozer’s new roommate is his five-month old puppy, Louie.
“It's weird, honestly,” Cayden Boozer told USA TODAY Sports. “But I just feel like we just do such a great job of continuing the conversation
and not just going ghost until like Christmas or Thanksgiving. So even though we're so far, like miles-wise, I feel like I'm always connected with them and I still know what's going on in their lives.”
The brothers’ bond is even stronger because of events that transpired 20 years ago. In May 2006, Carmani was born with sickle cell disease, a blood disorder that disproportionately affects African Americans and which can be lethal.
Carlos and CeCe Boozer discovered that a bone marrow donation could save Carmani’s life, and that a sibling was most likely to provide a genetic match for such a donation. They chose to conceive using in-vitro fertilization to ensure the embryo would be healthy and a match for Carmani. When he was 21 months old, Carmani received a blood stem cell transplant using Cameron and Cayden’s cord blood.
That gives the twins a solid, “We saved your life,” comeback to use in arguments with their older brother, though it’s not a guaranteed winner.
“We've brought that up, but then (Carmani) would just be like, ‘Well, I'm the reason you're born,’ so it's a touché comment,” Cayden said.
Now, the brothers are uniting on behalf of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) to encourage people ages 18 to 35 to join the donor registry and possibly save a life.
“I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't without my brothers and my parents making that very difficult choice to go through with everything that they did, and I couldn't be more grateful for it,” Carmani Boozer told USA TODAY Sports.
“It’s special knowing that we're here because of him, and he's here because of us,” Cameron Boozer told USA TODAY Sports. “There's a lot of people who do struggle with it and go through pain and whatever it might be, and I think especially being a minority, it's very hard to find a donor match. So just trying to spread awareness, get more people to sign up.”
Boozer brothers use family story to raise awareness
Carmani, 20, has lived a completely healthy life since his successful transplant. He was too young to remember details of the ordeal, but his mom kept a photo book and his umbilical cord.
When the twins were in middle school and Carmani was a freshman in high school, the entire Boozer family viewed the 2008 ESPN "E60" documentary about their story. It gave all three brothers a greater appreciation for each other.
As the sons of an NBA player and a former NCAA Division I volleyball player, it comes as no surprise that the Boozers were relentlessly competitive growing up. Basketball showdowns on the backyard trampoline were all-out battles. Ditto for UNO card games. All three boys were athletes, with Carmani eventually choosing baseball while the twins became some of the highest-ranked basketball recruits in the country.
These days, Cayden, Cameron and Carmani keep in touch through a brothers-only group chat. They use texts and video calls to talk about video games, golf (Cameron’s hobby) and, of course, basketball.
Cayden Boozer is a starting guard for the No. 2 ranked Duke Blue Devils, who play No. 5 Michigan State on Tuesday, Nov. 10. He told USA TODAY Sports that he never considered transferring to another school this season — “there was no place that I wanted to be besides Duke” — and added that he’s enjoyed watching his twin brother’s NBA success from afar.
Cameron Boozer recorded his first NBA triple-double on Oct. 29 and the Grizzlies are now 6-3 on the season after a 6-0 start.
“I think it's just been cool to watch him from a different perspective,” Cayden Boozer said. “Obviously, we've played with each other our entire lives, so seeing him in a different light on a different team, just been super fun to watch, and I genuinely get to see all the stuff that he does because you can't take it for granted when you're playing with him.”
In September, before the start of his rookie NBA season, Cameron visited transplant recipients and blood stem cell donors at Baptist Cancer Center in Memphis. Just before Halloween, Cayden visited patients at the Duke University Hospital. Both twins are planning to bring a patient to one of their basketball games this season.
NMDP helps patients with blood cancers and disorders receive life-saving blood stem cell transplants, said Julie Smolich, NMDP's senior vice president of marketing and community engagement. Joining the NMDP donor registry is as easy as taking a swab from the inside of your cheek.
“We are grateful to Cameron, Cayden and Carmani for sharing their stories and raising awareness about the crucial work NMDP is doing," Smolich said. "Because of their advocacy, we are growing the NMDP Registry to give hope and a second chance at life to more patients.”
Carmani Boozer said he and his family are aiming to increase diverse representation on the registry to give more patients a chance at a match.
“We're definitely in a very fortunate situation, but I mean, anyone can go through a traumatic time and a difficult time, no matter where your upbringing is from,” Carmani Boozer said. “I just think that's what makes our family different and unique from others, just having that experience together. And obviously it's something we wish we never had to go through, but I don't think we regret the process that we had and how close it's made us today.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘We saved your life’: The remarkable bond connecting Cayden, Cameron and Carmani Boozer
