Gage Haynes, 14, began battling cancer when he was 6 months old and has been in and out of hospitals ever since, KLAS-TV reported.

"I have Systemic Mastocytosis," he told the station. "It's a rare form of cancer, and it's just been happening my whole life so I'm used to it. Now, we've finally found a way to help it."

Image source: KLAS-TV video screenshot

His mother Stacey Shavinsky told KLAS that Gage takes eight Ryedapt pills daily.

"I always tell him that this is our journey," she added to the station. "We are on this road for a reason."

Image source: KLAS-TV video screenshot

But neither of them were prepared for the speed bump they hit Thursday.



What happened?

KLAS said around 1 p.m. a man with an orange in one hand and a soda can in the other was caught on security camera walking up to the front door of Shavinsky's Las Vegas home.

Image source: KLAS-TV video screenshot

And he was caught taking packages — which contained Gage's chemotherapy meds.

Image source: KLAS-TV video screenshot

"Once I realized that it was my son's medication, then I got upset," she told the station. "You're not just taking pants or a shirt; you're taking something that's keeping someone alive."

And the Ryedapt pills aren't cheap.



"I worked really hard to try and get him that," Shavinsky told KLAS. "I did financial assistance because it costs $40,000 a month because it's not FDA approved for anyone under 18."

Image source: KLAS-TV video screenshot

She and Gage just want his medication back.

"It really helps me out a lot," Gage told the station. "I would feel a lot better, so I can go to school, get good grades, get a job, so just please return it."

Good news



Shavinsky told KLAS she was working with a pharmaceutical company to get assistance, and the station added that donations on a GoFundMe page for Gage set up about a year ago have been picking up since word of the theft got out. Shavinsky added on the page Wednesday that she was able to supplement Gage's meds and that a new shipment arrived.

