By Andrew Yang
January 2025
7 am, and the alarm blares as you sluggishly rise out of bed. Suddenly, the room starts spinning and you feel a wave of nausea. You take a few steps, but your feet feel like anchors as you trudge towards the bathroom. By the time you reach the mirror, your hunched back heaves with the heavy breaths you are forced to take. Looking into the mirror, you can’t even recognize who you have become. Your once sparkling brown eyes are now plagued with a bleak, dull yellow, the same yellow invading his skin. The life of a sickle cell anemia patient was not easy. Most days, you would fight the restless fatigue along with the random pangs of your heart causing you to clutch your chest for dear life—yet this was all just a routine for you.
But today was a different day. Perhaps a more hopeful one.
After years of enduring pain, hospital visits, and fearing every day would be your last, you were about to begin a transformative journey. This appointment today was a glimmer of hope. You had read about CRISPR’s capabilities some years before, but they seemed almost too good to be true. It seemed to be one of those “maybe in another lifetime” medical breakthroughs. But then came the unexpected call from your doctor, explaining that you were a suitable candidate for a new clinical trial to undergo a revolutionary treatment that could rewrite your genes, freeing you from this awful condition.
The pre-treatment had its twists and turns. You met with a genetic counselor and doctor to discuss the procedure, the possible benefits and the risks. You were at a crossroads, unable to decide what to do—stick with what you know, the certainty of your disease and pain or take a risk and try this new treatment. What if it doesn’t work? What if I become more sick?
For the next few months, your blood was harvested from bone marrow, your genes were edited in a lab, and you underwent high doses of chemotherapy to make room for these modified cells. Finally, all that was left to do was infuse the cells back in.
The day of the infusion came. You sat in the hospital bed, surrounded by the beeps and hums of the hospital equipment around you. All you could think about was the weight of everything you had been through and the endless possibilities of this upcoming treatment. Suddenly the curtains opened up, and the doctors came filing in. The medical team once more explained the process: how CRISPR would target and repair the faulty genes responsible for sickle cell disease. You couldn’t believe that this potential new life was so close, you could almost taste the freedom. As the infusion finally began, new emerging possibilities flooded your mind - pictures of you living freely, without pain.
The weeks that followed the procedure were a waiting game. Every day, you would wake up from bed, wondering if today would be the day you would feel better. The side effects of the treatment were no walk in the park, with the fatigue and the mild fevers, but they were miles better than the usual symptoms you had felt your entire life. But all the anxiety flushed away as the follow-up appointments showed promising news: your body was responding well, and your red blood cells were functioning correctly for the first time. The sickle cell anemia you once had was no more.
Months later, you are walking in the park, feeling the soft green grass below your feet and the sunlight beam across your face—something that once seemed impossible. Your steps felt lighter, and you could breathe easier, like a weight had been lifted, and your soul had finally filled with life again. You had lived your whole life defined by this one condition, but it was at that moment you realized the difference between what it meant to survive and what it meant to live.
This story isn’t just a fantasy; it is the real lives of sickle cell anemia patients. CRISPR doesn’t just have the potential to edit genes; it can change stories and lives for the better.
Disclaimer: This is a fictional account, representative of living with Sickle Cell Disease.
Comments