Las Vegas Police Hunt Suspect Who Stole 14-Year-Old Boy's $40k/Month Cancer Meds

LAS VEGAS, NV — A 14-year-old cancer patient in Las Vegas is appealing for the public's help to locate the suspect who brazenly stole his chemotherapy medicine in broad daylight.

Gage Haynes takes eight Ryedapt pills per day to help manage a rare form of cancer called Systemic Mastocytosis, according to his mother Stacey Shavinsky. Haynes was diagnosed with the disease when he was six months old, and has been in and out of hospitals since then.

"Now, we've finally found a way to help it. My whole life there's really been nothing," Haynes told Las Vegas Now.

At around 1 P.M. on Thursday, surveillance footage captured a man with an orange in one hand and a soda can in the other walking up to Shavinsky's front door on Mill Canyon Drive.

The "porch pirate" can be seen on camera stealing two packages.

"Once I realized that it was my son's medication, then I got upset," Gage's mom said. "You're not just taking pants or a shirt; you're taking something that's keeping someone alive."

Shavinsky explained that the medication, which is not FDA approved for patients under 18, was very difficult to get. She receives financial assistance to get it due to the fact that the drugs cost $40,000 per month.

Shavinsky is asking the public's help in finding the suspect. She said that she is also working with a pharmaceutical company to get assistance in replacing the missing medications.

"It really helps me out a lot. I would feel a lot better, so I can go to school, get good grades, get a job, so just please return it," Haynes pleaded.

Read more: Las Vegas Now