NPR

A Year In, 1st Patient To Get Gene-Editing For Sickle Cell Disease Is Thriving

Since receiving a landmark treatment with the gene-editing tool CRISPR, a sickle cell patient has the strength to care for herself and her children — while navigating the pandemic.
Victoria Gray, who underwent a landmark treatment for sickle cell disease last year, has been at home in Forest, Miss., with her three kids Jadasia Wash (left), Jamarius Wash (second from left) and Jaden Wash (right).

Like millions of other Americans, Victoria Gray has been sheltering at home with her children as the U.S. struggles through a deadly pandemic, and as protests over police violence have erupted across the country.

But Gray is not like any other American. She's the first person with a genetic disorder to get treated in the United States with the revolutionary gene-editing technique called CRISPR.

And as the one-year anniversary of her landmark treatment approaches, Gray has just received very good news: The billions of genetically modified cells doctors infused into her body clearly appear to be alleviating virtually all the complications of her disorder, sickle cell disease.

"It's wonderful. It's the change I've been waiting on my whole life," Gray tells NPR, which has had exclusive access to over the past year.

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