GENE THERAPY WORKS FOR COREY

LEBER’S CONGENITAL AMAUROSIS

Nancy Haas received a wonderful Mother’s Day Present, knowing her son, Corey could play Little League baseball without help – thanks to gene therapy!

Under the direction of a team at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, led by Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, F.M. Kirby Professor of Ophthalmology and Katherine A. High, William H. Bennett Professor of Pediatrics, both at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, eight-year-old Corey Haas of Hadley, N.Y., received gene therapy for a rare disease called Leber’s congenital amaurosis, which was causing him to go blind.

His family knew the treatment worked when, soon thereafter, Corey asked his parents when two of his friends changed their hair color.  He could finally tell they were blondes, not brunettes.

Ethan Haas, Corey’s father, said the treatment was worth it.  “He’ll be sitting in the back of the car and say, “I can see the trees go by, and I couldn’t see them before,” Haas said.  (Boston Globe and Reuters)