Young Basketball Fan With Rare Disorder To Meet His Idol, Stephen Curry
OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- A North Carolina boy with a rare disorder is about to get what he's always wanted: a meeting with his favorite basketball player, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry.
Seven-year-old Jonathan Page suffers from methylmalonic academia, or MMA – a metabolic disorder in which the body is unable to process fats and lipids properly, which leads to a buildup of toxic levels of methylmalonic acid in the blood.
Jonathan experienced a loss of motor skills at age two when he suffered a major stroke while sleeping and went into a coma.
His mother recalled the day Jonathan woke up. "The first thing he did after he woke up out of his coma, was throw a ball," said mother Loree Oliver. "He threw a small, little soft basketball."
It isn't just basketball that Jonathan loves, it's a very famous basketball player, who brightens his world even though the two have never met.
"When he's waling into school and his teachers say 'Hi, Jonathan' he says, "No I'm Steph,'" said Oliver. "So Steph has truly been a motivation."
Dream On 3, an organization that grants sports dreams for special needs kids, helped make Jonathan's dream of meeting Steph Curry a reality.
Jonathon, his mom and two sisters flew into the Bay Area Tuesday from North Carolina.
"It's exciting, and to know that Steph knows who we are, it's, like, wow," said sister Carli Carpenter.
Jonathan and his family will also catch a home game this Friday at Oracle Arena. This is the second time Curry has granted this special wish for the organization.