A 12-year-old is the first patient in the state to receive a new form of gene therapy.
By Maureen Gilmer, Riley Children’s Health senior writer, [email protected]
A 12-year-old Greenwood girl has made history at Riley Hospital for Children.
Elin Lewis has been a patient at Riley for years, undergoing regular blood transfusions for treatment of thalassemia, an inherited genetic condition where the body’s red blood cells don’t contain the necessary proteins to carry oxygen to all parts of the body.
She is now the first patient in Indiana to receive a new form of gene therapy that gives her the chance to live a normal life. A new program at Riley offers the possibility of a cure by collecting the body’s stem cells, re-engineering those cells, then transplanting them back into the body.
The gene therapy program gives hope to families whose children are affected by non-malignant blood diseases such as thalassemia and sickle cell disease that often require regular blood transfusions, as well as other red blood cell disorders like acquired aplastic anemia.