Major advancements towards a cure for sickle cell disease have been made in recent months thanks to the diligence of doctors, scientists and a 12-year-old patient named Kendric Cromer. On Oct. 16, the young boy became the first person to complete new historic treatments to cure this debilitating disease.
Sickle cell disease (also known as sickle cell anemia) is an inherited blood disorder that inhibits the proper function of red blood cells. The disease causes the blood cells to change from their normal shape to something more rigid, thus blocking or slowing down blood flow. This can then cause extremely painful episodes known as ‘crises,’ which can last from hours to even weeks. Sickle cell anemia can also lead to later health complications in life, such as infections, organ damage, strokes, lung issues and more.
The life expectancy of someone with sickle cell disease is about 20 years shorter than someone without a blood disorder.
The disease disproportionately affects people of African descent, with the CDC noting that out of the roughly 100,000 people in the United States with sickle cell disease, about 90% are Black individuals. Scientists commonly associate this health disproportion with evolution, claiming that the blood disorder became present in populations that were vulnerable to malaria.
Kendric Cromer was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia when he was just a newborn and had one of the severest forms of this disease. In an interview with WTOP News, Cromer and his parents, Deborah and Keith Cromer, share how his crises have caused many hospital and emergency room trips over the years. The disease also impedes his school attendance and all-around lifestyle as a kid.
“Sometimes they can be sharp and feel like something is biting me, like a shark,” Kendric said to WTOP News regarding these severe episodes. “Sometimes it feels like I’m burning, or that I’m being hit by a four-wheeler.”
Kendric has to be careful about falling or injuring himself-anything that could disrupt his blood flow and send him into excruciating pain. This stops him from regular youth activities like sports and playground games. This is what the young boy has known all his life and has expected the rest of his years to be like. That was until news reached his family about two new ‘milestone’ treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration in December 2023.
These new discoveries are gene therapy treatments targeting stem cells to produce more normal red blood cells to overpower the sickle cells, eventually ridding patients of their crises.
The FDA also noted that eligible patients for this trial needed to be 12 or older.
“It’s a game changer,” said Kendric’s doctor, Dr. Andrew Campbell, who is also the director of the Sickle Cell program at Children’s National Hospital in D.C. “They don’t have to take medications anymore because they’re walking around, allowing the stem cell to do the job for them.”
Dr. Campbell told WTOP that Kendric was already in other medical trials for sickle cell disease prior to these treatments but was chosen for this new trial due to the severity of his disease and the overwhelming amount of crises he experiences.
Microsoft Start reports that Kendric started treatment in May. Initially, doctors extracted stem cells from his bone marrow and sent them to a lab owned by one of the treatment creators, Bluebird Bio. Eventually, new stem cells were shipped back, and in September, the 12-year-old entered his next phase of treatment, which consisted of chemotherapy and the infusion of the new cells.
Kendric stayed in the hospital for 44 days. Throughout this time, he experienced intense side effects such as inflammation, darkening and peeling skin, and joint pain, but eventually, he started to feel better. When doctors wheeled the 12-year-old out of the children’s hospital on October 16, it was with the faith that his sickle cell anemia was cured, and Kendric and his parents are waiting to see the effects as he heals.
“I haven’t felt all the amazingness yet,” the boy told the New York Times in October. “But I am slowly starting to feel better.”
One of the main concerns now of his parents is Kendric adjusting to a ‘normal’ life after all these years of hospital trips and extreme pain. WTOP News asked the child what his expectations are of a normal life.
“It looks like me hanging out with my friends and being able to play games,” Kendric said. “Going to high school and college, that’s what [a normal life] looks like.”
Finding a permanent cure for sickle cell anemia has been a central issue for a wide range of health scientists and doctors. On Saturday, hematologist Matthew Heeney, MD, of Boston Children’s Hospital, presented his studies and results on a different gene therapy trial called base editing.
The first person to go on the base editing trial at Boston Children’s Hospital (referred to as BEACON) was a young boy named Branden Baptiste. Baptiste’s crises were “unbearable,” thus hindering his ability to live normally as a little boy. His pain was extreme.
Heeney recruited Baptiste for the trial in 2023. Not only was the young boy able to leave the hospital early, but MedicalXPress reported he also felt “more than fine” following the treatment. Currently, Baptiste is off all his sickle cell medication and frequently works out at the gym.
“In my opinion, I’m perfect,” he told MedicalXPress reporters. “I never felt fine before—before, ‘fine’ was moderate pain. I could take deep breaths through. Now I’m more than fine. I’m operating in every way possible.”
