Meet Ja’Ceon Golden. He was among the first patients treated at UC San Francisco, in partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in a CIRM-funded study for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. Ja’Ceon was born without a functioning immune system, so even a simple cold could have been fatal.

At UCSF, Dr. Mort Cowan’s team collected Ja’Ceon’s blood stem cells and sent them to St. Jude, where scientists corrected the SCID mutation. The corrected cells were returned to UCSF and infused back into Ja’Ceon.

Over the next few months, the cells expanded and repaired his immune system.

He recently returned to UCSF for follow‑up tests. His aunt and guardian, Dannie Hawkins, says he is doing well, has started pre‑K, is about to turn five, and will soon be five years post‑therapy. Ja’Ceon is effectively cured.

SCID is rare, with around 70 cases each year, but CIRM funding has supported cures for about 60 children so far. A recent New England Journal of Medicine study showed a UCLA approach cured 95 percent of treated children.

The numbers are impressive—but nothing is more persuasive than Ja’Ceon and Dannie’s smiles.