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Pediatric cancer fight continues in the name of Grand Prairie teen

"He wasn't scared to die. I mean he told us he wasn't scared to die. But he was scared to be forgotten. So I want to make sure that he's never, ever forgotten."

DALLAS — Nearly two years after the death of a Grand Prairie teenager, his family continues to fight in his memory for the next children who have to face a dreaded cancer diagnosis.

"It will be two years, September 23rd," said Chrissy Gomez. Her son Gage Overton was just 19 when he died.

The diagnosis was rare: synovial sarcoma, a cancer of the soft tissues like muscles, nerves and tendons. Gage's cancer began as a lump on his shoulder. The first doctor to see him told the family it was likely a fatty tissue lipoma, non cancerous and nothing to worry about. But the eventual cancer diagnosis was one that chemotherapy and radiation could not stop.

"We know it's rare. But it happens," Gomez said of the diagnosis.

"He was very worried that he would be forgotten. He wasn't scared to die. I mean he told us he wasn't scared to die. But he was scared to be forgotten. So I want to make sure that he's never, ever forgotten."

And to do that his family, by establishing the Gage Overton Memorial Fund, has raised nearly half of the $25,000 needed for an endowment at Children's Hospital in Dallas. They hope to raise the rest at a fundraising run and walk August 10th in Grand Prairie, so that doctors can continue badly needed pediatric cancer research in Gage's name.

"He was a brave guy," said Dr. Patrick Leavey with Children's Health and UT Southwestern. "Gage's memory is acute in my mind," he said of the teen he shared long conversations with in the final days in the hospital ICU.

And Leavey says one family, still willing to put up a fight, can make a difference.

"There's no question that her support is critical to us finding clues, finding answers to understanding why it was that Gage's cancer didn't respond as much as we hoped, and when it returned, why it didn't respond as much as we hoped. It's greatly appreciated but it is certainly needed and it will honor his memory."

Gage loved cars, especially his prized 240SX. That's why an image of the car is the logo for the Gage Overton Memorial Fund. And in memory of a young man who loved drifting, loved the wind in his hair, and loved the power of a turbo engine, his mom asks that you join this race for a cancer cure if you can.

"We don't want people to keep having to go through this over and over and over again," Chrissy Gomez said. "We want to do our part to help stop it."

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