Michigan’s first commercially available sickle cell disease gene therapy patient: “A huge blessing,” says 24-year-old Southfield college student

Detroit – Southfield college student Chantez Sanford Jr. said he wasn’t scared to be the first patient in Michigan to receive a novel, new, commercially available gene therapy to potentially cure his sickle cell disease.

“Faith and joy definitely overtook the fear,” said the Savannah College of Art & Design 3-D animation student, who volunteers as a student minister and Bible study teacher at school in Atlanta and one day hopes to work on movie or video game animation.