Crystal Lake family  highlights rare condition

By CHELSEA McDOUGALL - cmcdougall@shawmedia.com

Created: Friday, September 7, 2012 5:30 a.m. CDT

Updated: Saturday, September 8, 2012 12:01 a.m. CDT

CRYSTAL LAKE – Nick Romita has spent his life watching from the sidelines – just as he does for every Prairie Ridge High School football game, including last year when he traveled to Champaign to watch the Wolves win a state title.

The 18-year-old’s bones are brittle, which makes sports, or even physical education classes, difficult. Asthma keeps him from many activities, including riding a bike.

Romita has an extremely rare bone marrow failure syndrome called Diamond Blackfan Anemia or DBA. DBA is known to afflict only a few hundred people nationally.

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