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Posted: 8:07 PM- Carlos Boozer considers his life as a finite amount of time to make his mark, his imprint on the world.

"I always thought that meant basketball," he said.

During the past two years he has learned the sport that has made him successful isn't his gift, but a means to do more good than he ever conceived of doing. Now he's not just a basketball player, but a basketball player determined to help save lives, encourage stem cell research and act as a spokesman for a disease that humbled him more than any opponent ever has.

Boozer and his wife, CeCe, have spent the past two years living the ordeal of sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder that affects red blood cells.

The disease affects more than 100,000 Americans, according to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, and 1 baby out of every 400 births of African Americans has the disease.

Carmani, born on May 31, 2006, was diagnosed with the disease while still in the womb.

Boozer knew he had the trait but his wife didn't.

"When we found out, it felt like our whole universe was crumbling around us," he said in an interview with The Tribune on Friday.

"Everything should be about bliss. Here you're going to have this baby, everyone is happy and then you find out your child has sickle cell. It made us doubt everything, even ourselves."

Boozer and his wife didn't know much about the disease at first; soon they were experts. They learned the abnormal cells have a hard time passing through small blood vessels which can cause pain, blood clots, anemia and damage to organs such as the spleen, kidneys and liver.

They learned it can be a painful disease that can cause death.

"Why us?" he wondered. Now he knows.

"This is how I'm supposed to make my mark," he said. "I used to be all about basketball, basketball. There is so much more than basketball."

Boozer missed almost two weeks of Utah's training camp to be with his son after he underwent a bone marrow transplant in August that hopefully will cure him of the disease.

So far, Carmani has responded well after spending 40 nights in Miami's Children Hospital during his treatment. It's still unknown if the treatment worked, but Boozer does know his son will have a better life if it did, and he knows he returns to Utah a different man than the one who has spent the past three seasons with the Jazz.

"You think of yourself as a father, brother, son, a basketball player, all these things," he said. "Now I realize I'm so much more than that, I'm an advocate. I want to raise money, help kids who can't help themselves. This is the beginning of a long story for me, and this is just Part One."

The 25-year-old is ready to speak out about the disease now. He wasn't while the family was going through the ordeal, preferring to keep it private. Because high altitude can cause complications with the disease, CeCe and Carmani lived in Miami last season, the first time the two had spent considerable time apart since they met nine years ago on the Duke Campus when CeCe spied him at a book store. He was an incoming 17-year-old freshman and she was a 20-year-old senior. The age difference didn't matter. She still tracked him down through the student directory and asked him to dinner.

"Steak, potatoes and green beans," he remembered. "She was beautiful, smart and could cook, too. I'd told my mom I had found the one."

Three years later, when Carmani was born, the disease found its one as well.

"He was such a strong, happy baby, we were praying the doctors were wrong," Boozer said. "They weren't."

Most of their research and medical procedures came during the season last year, when Boozer was having an all-star year averaging 20.9 points and 11.7 rebounds and leading the Jazz to the playoffs while his wife watched from Miami.

"I took a lot of my frustrations out on opposing teams," said Boozer with a big smile. "Basically she was a single mom, and I didn't want that for her."

Boozer and his wife found a new, risky treatment that involved the bone marrow transplant. They used in vitro fertilization to give CeCe two healthy embryos with the hopes one would take. Both did, and twins Cameron and Cayden were born on July 18.

Doctors used stem cells from CeCe's umbilical cord for Carmani in the bone marrow transplant. But first he had to undergo 10 days of chemotherapy to wipe out the old bone marrow, a time that caused the family the most grief.

"He was so happy, we thought, 'Do we take a chance and see what life has for him or do we put him through this,' " Boozer said. "There was a 10 percent chance he could die, and that is so scary. You don't want your kid to be that statistic."

Boozer and his wife spent all 40 days with their son at the hospital, with Boozer taking the night shift so he could work out in the day and his wife staying at the hospital during the day.

"It was such a hard situation, being on the oncology floor," CeCe said. "There were children dying every day. It wasn't a good place to be. We've seen a lot of families who didn't make it."

They didn't see each other much during that time, but it was still a better situation than last year for the family. They usually saw each other during road trips to low-lying cities such as Detroit, Indiana and Los Angeles.

"You go play ball, play the Spurs at home or whatever and then you shower, you dress, you go talk to the coaches about the next day and then you go to the family room and hug your wife and your kids," he said. "I go there, and there wasn't anyone there. That is when I felt empty."

His teammates were there for him, which is why Boozer is more determined than ever to help the Jazz succeed. He informed Jazz owner Larry H. Miller and other higher-ups of what his situation was shortly after he learned of the diagnosis. They've supported him throughout, and Boozer scoffs at the notion he might take a similar exit to the one Derek Fisher took, who opted out of his contract so his daughter Tatum could be treated in Los Angeles for a rare form of eye cancer while he plays for the Lakers.

Boozer supported Fisher's decision, but said he isn't leaving the Jazz. If all goes well, his family will join him here sometime in January.

"We're going to lock up D-Will this summer and keep all the pieces intact and try to win a championship in a couple years," he said. "And I want my wife, son and family to be there to see it."

That title is a great goal of his, but not his ultimate. Now he sees his basketball success as only part of his identity. The thought of competition brings a light to his eyes, but so does raising money and awareness to help families who can't afford the procedure Carmani had, which can range from $300,000 to $1 million in medical bills, he said.

"What if I was the guy at the gas station who couldn't afford that?" he said. "This is what I'm excited about, to help treat this, cure leukemia. That is what is exciting to me. We used to walk the hallways up at Primary Children's Hospital giving gifts at Christmas and it would be hard to finish that walk. Now, it's so scary, that hits home."

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