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After pleading for months, Kaden Jones finally persuaded his parents to let him go to a four-day basketball camp in Salt Lake City.
The St. George family set aside its worries about the 13-year-old's Type 1 diabetes and sent the young forward to develop his post moves at Westminster College in July.
But after the first day, Kaden's condition spun out of control and claimed his life.
Now, his parents are suing the school. Attorneys for Marjie and Paul Jones say the Salt Lake City liberal arts college of 2,200 undergraduate students is at fault for the death of their son, the youngest of six children. The family seeks unspecified damages related to Kaden's death.
"Basically, we feel like our son should not have died," said his mother. "We want Westminster to be accountable for that."
The Joneses' pending wrongful death suit was filed in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court on April 24. The allegations have emerged as parents in Utah and elsewhere help young athletes, artists and others pack duffel bags for a week or more away from home this summer.
Not all children have a diagnosis as serious as Kaden's. But the American Camp Association provides a checklist of questions parents should ask before sending their kids to a camp.
Camps seeking certification with the organization should have one staff member for every eight campers ages 9 to 14 in a sleep-away setting. For day camps, the group recommends one for every 10 campers.
The association also requires that 80 percent of counseling staff be at least 18 years old and a minimum of 2 years older than campers. For parents of special-needs kids, the group recommends asking if a nurse is on staff, or if there's a designated storage space to store insulin and allergy medicine.
It's unclear what accommodations Westminster had made for the diabetic boy before he arrived on campus.
He also loved video games and football, but "Kade" Jones put basketball first.
He "was a gentle giant," Marjie Jones recalled Tuesday. "Once he realized he was going to be super tall, he wanted to roll with that. He had 13-year-old dreams of becoming an NBA star."
Attorneys for the Joneses argue in court documents that the school was notified of his medical condition. The family filled out medical forms that indicated the 13-year-old needed medication for his disease.
Even so, employees at the sleep-away camp neglected to call the listed emergency contacts after he vomited several times and told camp coaches he felt ill, the family says.
Roughly 24 hours later, they argue, he was found unresponsive on a dorm room floor.
Attorneys for the private college deny the claims of negligence and maintain Westminster is not responsible for the camper's death.
There are treatments but no cure for Type 1 diabetes, which is also referred to as juvenile diabetes. It is a chronic condition that prevents the pancreas from producing enough insulin — a hormone allowing sugar into cells to produce energy. Genetics or exposure to certain viruses are thought to cause the disease.
Type 2 diabetes, when a person becomes resistant to the effects of insulin or unable to produce enough of the hormone, is more common.
Westminster attorneys argue the woman who dropped Kaden Jones off — his roommate's grandmother — made no mention of his condition at check-in time.
Later in the day, school attorneys wrote in documents filed on May 18, the boy called his parents to tell them he was feeling sick, but he avoided telling camp employees about his condition. Marjie Jones denied Tuesday that any such call came through.
Matthew Feller, the Joneses' attorney, argues Kaden's friend's grandmother had traveled to Salt Lake City from out of town in case urgent care was needed.
In a prepared statement, Westminster called the death "a very tragic situation, and nothing can replace the young man's positive impact in the lives of his friends and family."
The school has paid for expenses related to the boy's death and is involved with "multiple efforts to ensure his memory lives on," the statement says.
Westminster attorney Clay Stucki declined to say how much the school has donated or provide details about the efforts, saying in an email he would not comment out of respect for the grieving parents.
Westminster, for its part, is "disappointed" the family is suing and says it is "still working in good faith" to resolve the claims, the statement continues.
When Kaden arrived on campus in Salt Lake City he did not have enough insulin to regulate his condition, the school alleges. He checked into camp the morning of July 21, a Monday, and participated in morning activities.
He later sat out in the trainer's office, where he vomited several times, but rejoined fellow campers for dinner in the cafeteria, Westminster attorneys said.
The boy stayed behind at some point in the evening while his roommate left campus with coaches and other campers to get snacks, Feller counters.
Two of the coaches, who were on Westminster men's basketball team, also propped the boy up after he complained he couldn't breathe, the Joneses' attorneys allege, and searched his symptoms online. The counselors checked on the boy periodically through the night, but did not call the family.
"It's just a phone call — just a phone call at any time of day that would've changed our whole world," Marjie Jones said.
The next morning, his camp roommate, who also was his best friend, found him unresponsive on the floor of the dorm room they were sharing, a police report shows.
Emergency crews were unable to revive him and transported him to Primary Children's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death was found to be diabetic ketoacidosis, which is related to insulin levels. No criminal investigation ensued because the death was ruled a natural one, said Salt Lake City Police Det. Greg Wilking.
A court date has not yet been set. If the Joneses are successful, they said, they hope to put any earnings toward a memorial 5K run or a donation to a Washington County camp for children with diabetes.
"We want to make his life matter," Jones said, "and we don't want people to forget him."