Everett man raffling off muscle car for baby with rare disorder

Casen Buswell is a happy, playful 7-month old. But his family worries every day about his future.

“We don’t want to know the ‘what-ifs’ of what might happen. We want him to live a normal life and have very little pain,” said his mom, Jenna Buswell.

Casen has an incredibly rare genetic disorder known as “GVM,” Glomuvenous malformation, which affects only 14 people in the world.

Baby Casen Buswell at 5-months old

“It is a genetic disorder. The older he gets, the harder it’s going to be for him. What happens is his skin and the subcutaneous layer on top of the muscle, hardens. At this point the impacted lesions are growing quickly.”

Right now the lesions look like bluish-purple marks on Casen’s chest, which will get bigger over time and harden as he gets older.

Recently, Casen’s breathing has become very rapid, which doctors think is related to GVM lesions. “Nobody quite knows why. They believe that it’s caused by the extra pressure by the extra blood vessels on his chest.”

To stop the progress of the disease, Casen’s family must fly for expensive laser treatments in California and Belgium, the only place where specialists are equipped to treat GVM.

“There’s not really anyone (here) who has ever treated his condition before, and the risk for a lot of professionals is too high.”

We first met Casen back in July, when the Puyallup baby was getting a big gift from a local teenager: 17-year-old Hunter Stutz summited Mount Rainier and with your help raised nearly $15,000 for Casen’s medical treatment.

Ron and Don hosted Hunter Stutz, Jenna Buswell, and baby Casen in July

Local friends and supporters have also organized bake sales, bunko parties, breakfasts, and basketball tournaments for Casen’s medical and travel needs.

“Without our community our first trip to Brussels to understand and talk to the doctors about (Casen’s) diagnosis wouldn’t have been possible.”

And the support for Casen keeps growing. Jenna received a phone call last week with an unusual offer: “They said somebody wants to donate their drag racing car to Casen.”

That donor was Ron Cook, a retired Boeing worker who loves racing at the Evergreen Speedway in Everett, but had to give up the sport due to an injury.

“Too beat up. Can’t do it anymore. So I saw little baby Casen, and he reminded me of my mom…My heart went out to the baby. He hasn’t even had a chance to live.”

Ron Cook with the 1957 Chevy Bel-Air he is raffling off

Ron decided his 1957 Chevy Bel-Air could do a lot of good for Casen. He says it’s all ready to race, with brand-new rear slicks and tires in the front. Not to mention realistic flames custom-painted on the hood. “She runs an honest 10 seconds in the quarter-mile. It’s a pretty fast car.”

Baby Casen even went to say ‘thank you’ in person last weekend, when the Buswell family visited Evergreen Speedway for Ron’s last race.

“My mom was there, and I felt like baby Casen was in the car with me. I didn’t finish, but I made three passes, and to me that was good enough,” said Ron.

“Lots of tears,” said Jenna.

Ron is selling raffle tickets at $20 a piece. All the money will go to Casen’s family for medical care and travel expenses. Brown’s Automotive in Marysville and Randy’s Offroad in Smokey Point are two places you can find tickets, and Ron will be selling them in-person with his Chevy in Granite Falls this Saturday.

Ron said there are currently 2,000 raffle tickets available. “It’s gonna go for way more than the car’s worth. I know that already, in my heart. But this little boy needs a chance to live.”

To make a donation online, go to www.GiveForward.com/CasenBuswell.