Daniel Cressy, a 23-year-old man from Metairie, Louisiana, has become the state’s first sickle cell disease patient to be functionally cured through gene therapy. Cressy underwent the gene editing therapy as doctors at Manning Family Children’s Hospital worked on his case.
Cressy now joins more than 100 patients around the country who doctors have helped cure with the first two gene therapies federally-approved for those with sickle cell disease: Casgevy and Lyfgenia.
Doctors at Manning Family Children’s Hospital said Cressy went through two years of treatment and the disease is no longer active in his system. The lengthy and expensive process changes the gene that causes red blood cells to sickle, or harden and bend in a way that blocks blood flow and causes immense pain. The drug alone cost $2.2 million.
During a celebration at the hospital on Monday (June 22), Cressy tearfully spoke. While surrounded by his loved ones, his care team, and local public officials — including Governor Jeff Landry, and U.S. Representative Troy Carter, and New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno — Cressy said he felt as if he’d been reborn.
He shared, “God has given me another life, a new chapter. I was able to experience a second birthday, something that most people will never experience.” Cressy, who founded the Privileged Pilots nonprofit, continues to share his story and support others through treatment and entering aviation. He said:
“I don’t want anybody else to have to experience the loneliness and the uncertainty and the hopelessness that I felt a couple of years ago. Even just last year, it was so uncertain. But overcoming it, now I know that if I can do it, anybody can do it.”
#Socialites, be sure to check out the post below, then leave us your thoughts in a comment after!