BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — A South Florida family is happy their son no longer lives with chronic pain.
Plus, he’s the first in the area to go through FDA-approved gene therapy.
Caden Major had been living with sickle cell until doctors edited his stem cells into healthy ones.
“I don’t think too much about being the first,” Caden said. “I just think about being sickle cell-free.”
Sickle cell is a genetic blood disorder, mostly common in people of African descent.
His mother, Francita Tador, told Local 10 News that Caden’s pain was so bad, his quality of life was declining.
Doctors with Jackson Health said he didn’t have a suitable donor and suggested Caden go through a curative treatment that genetically modifies his own cells.
“They called us back three months later and they give him chemotherapy (for) almost a week,” Tador said. “They wipe down his system and give him the new edited stem cells. And from that, his body starts to kind of now makes stem cells or make hemoglobin that’s normal verses sickle hemoglobin.”
Caden can now live a normal life.
“It’s a blessing to no longer have to live with the pain that I spent most of my life with,” Caden said.
Caden’s mom told Local 10 News that the procedure has been very expensive, going up to millions of dollars.
Fortunately, she said their insurance approved the family to get the procedure done.
Caden now only visits his doctors once a month.
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