Brenden Whittaker was born with a rare genetic disorder called X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (X-CGD). This condition affects the immune system’s ability to fight off common germs, specifically bacteria and fungi, and can result in infections that would only be mild for healthy people. Unfortunately for Brenden, he has suffered life-threatening infections that have required him to be hospitalized hundreds of times throughout most of his childhood. At only 16 years old, he got a very bad case of pneumonia that resulted in having tissue from his right lung removed. By age 22, the treatments he had received to fight off infections had stopped working entirely.

His prognosis looked grim, but fortunately he was informed of a CIRM-funded clinical trial conducted by Dr. Don Kohn to treat his condition. He would go on to become the first participant in this trial, which involved taking his blood stem cells, using gene therapy to correct the X-CGD mutation, and reintroducing these modified cells back into his body. Following his treatment, blood tests confirmed that the treatment produced enough corrected cells for Brenden to now be protected from severe infection.

Before the CIRM-funded treatment, the chances of severe infection were virtually everywhere, something many of us might better understand given everything going on with COVID-19. But now with a new lease on life, Brenden is giving back to the very community that helped him in his time of need. He is currently working as a patient care associate at his local hospital in Ohio. Considered an essential worker, Brenden’s responsibilities include taking patients’ vital signs, helping them eat and get cleaned up, and going for walks around the unit with those who are able to do so. He also plans to attend nursing school in the future.

In a news release, Brenden talks about wanting to give back to those in similar situations as him and demonstrates true selflessness.

“My job entails doing anything I can to make a patient’s time in the hospital a little bit easier while at the same time helping the doctors and nurses monitor for any new health developments. From the nurses who sat with me holding my hand and telling me about their lives when I was up in the middle of the night with a fever, to the patient transporters who remembered my name and talked with me the whole way to surgery, to the doctors who wouldn’t give up until they found an option that worked for me, these people are the reason the hospital setting is the only place I want to work. If I can help even one person the way these people have helped me, I will be happy.”

In addition to Brenden, five additional patients who received the same treatment for X-CGD are also doing well. This same gene therapy approach for blood stem cells was used in another CIRM-funded trial for SCID, another kind of genetic immune disorder. The SCID trial resulted in over 50 babies being cured of the condition, including little Evie, who is featured on the cover of CIRM’s 18-month report.