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Bakersfield teen granted wish of designing his own sneaker

Posted at 1:17 PM, Sep 25, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-25 16:17:19-04

The Make-A-Wish Foundation and Nike are teaming up to grant 16-year-old Rhome Simpkins, of Bakersfield, his wish of designing his very own Jordan brand shoe.

Rhome was born with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. It is a rare x-linked recessive disease characterized by eczema, immune deficiency and low platelet count.

Rhome has been in and out hospitals his entire life, at times spending up to 6 months hospitalized.  Doctors said told his parents that he would not live to see four-years-old. When he turned four, they were told that he would not make it past 12 years-old.

He beat the odds and will be celebrating his 17th birthday on Wednesday, September 25th.

In November he will undergo a very necessary bone marrow transplant.

Make-A-Wish wanted to grant Rhome his wish before he undergoes the complex surgery.

Today his family came together to see him off.

His grandfather, Darryl Ford said Rhome has been through a lot and that he is glad that his grandson got his wish.

Rhome and his family will be flying to Portland today. While there they will visit the Nike factory where Rhome will design his shoe.

23ABC will be with the family when they return and have a full report of his experience.