You can see in this photo that Evie Vaccaro is full of energy and life. It sometimes feels as if I have known her forever. In a way, I have. I feel lucky for that, and this photo is powerful because her life nearly ended before it began.

Evie was born with severe combined immunodeficiency, or SCID. Children with SCID lack a working immune system, so even a minor cold or diaper rash can be fatal. In the era of COVID‑19, their lives would be incredibly fragile. These children were once called “bubble babies” because they lived inside sterile plastic bubbles. Many died before age two.

Today, plastic bubbles aren’t needed. Today, we have a cure. We use that word carefully, but for Evie—and more than 40 other children—we use it with pride.

Dr. Don Kohn at UCLA developed a method that uses a child’s own blood stem cells. In the lab, his team inserts a corrected copy of the SCID gene and returns the cells to the child. The stem cells then renew and create a new blood system free of the mutation. The immune system is restored. The children are cured.

We’ve shared this story before, but it never gets old. Evie appears on the front and back covers of our upcoming Annual Report, which looks back at the last 18 months of CIRM’s progress. The report highlights advances in stem cell research, lives changed, and economic benefits for California, including billions in revenue and thousands of jobs.

Evie’s story reminds us what is possible thanks to California voters who created CIRM in 2004. Hers is one of many stories in the report, and we think you’ll enjoy reading them.

Of course, I might be a little biased.