Last week the CIRM Board awarded $5.53 million to Dr. Rosa Bacchetta at Stanford to complete the work necessary to conduct a clinical trial for IPEX syndrome. This is a rare disease caused by mutations in the FOXP3 gene which leaves people with the condition vulnerable to immune system attacks on their organs and tissues. These attacks can be devastating, even fatal.

At the Board meeting Taylor Lookofsky, a young man with IPEX syndrome, talked about the impact the condition has had on his life. The transcript of his talk is below.

It’s a powerful reminder that syndromes like this, because they affect a small number of people, are often overlooked and have few resources devoted to finding new treatments and cures. After reading Taylor’s story you come to appreciate his courage and determination, and why the funding CIRM provides is so important in helping researchers like Dr. Bacchetta find therapies to help people like Taylor.

“Good morning, my name is Taylor Lookofsky and I would first like to thank Rosa, who is one of the many doctors in my life. Rosa presented me with this amazing opportunity to come and speak to you today about my life and the challenges living with IPEX.

• I’d like to give you some background into my health challenges I’ve faced my entire life. Now to give some context to my years of struggle, I am 28 years old, not 10 years younger as some may have assumed.

• My first diagnosis came at the age of 1 ½ years old -type 1 diabetes.

• Soon after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I had to have a feeding tube inserted in my abdomen as I was restricted from eating almost all foods due to unknown food allergies. I was not allowed to ingest ANY food until the age of 6 years old. When I was finally introduced to food, any food ingested was tasteless and felt like sandpaper on my tongue since I had to train myself to eat.

• Around age 10, I would be faced with the beginning of a never-ending battle with my dermatitis. I remember specific details where my mother had taken me to a dermatologist to try and figure out what was happening to my skin as it was red, blotchy, oozing. I remember shivering so badly that my mom had to ask the doctor’s office to turn the air down.

• At age 18 I had been formally diagnosed with IPEX. I lost my hair and my skin started a battle that was more intense than any previous episode. I remember taking showers and clumps of my hair would fall out, and I would cry in the shower not knowing what was going on.

• At age 20, I would go through the most horrific episode with my skin to date. I was bed ridden, on pain meds and could not sleep. I had gone to all of my doctors trying to figure out what had triggered this event, and no doctor could figure out what was happening, leaving me extremely frustrated, depressed and drained of all energy. I went to the burn center as a last resort and was then treated like a burn patient. To care for these wounds, I would bathe, take a sponge and physically scrape these wounds to keep them infection free and as clean as possible. When I would exit the bath, I felt like a dried-up sponge and my skin was so tight that any movement would make my skin crack open and start bleeding. To add to this, I had to use medicated wraps to help with the healing process.

• In an ongoing attempt to treat my many symptoms, I took a series of medications that came with side effects. I have had at least 15 surgeries to remove squamous cells caused by one of the medications: In 2018, my colon perforated. As a result, I now have a colostomy bag.

The IPEX symptoms have affected me not just physically, but mentally as well. I had lost all my hair and growth has been permanently stunted, and I have not reached the point in puberty as my male counterparts. I would go day by day and see all my peers and be envious that they were tall, had beards and hair, had relationships, and the confidence that I was lacking and admittedly, still lack to this day at times.

I’ve felt hopeless because there have been so few treatment options and with the treatment currently available, I have tried hundreds of medications and creams, and have had my blood drawn countless times in hopes of finding a medication that works for me, or a cure for this insufferable disease. However, nothing. As a result, I have been battling depression singe age 20. There were days that went by where I thought “I just don’t want to be here if this is what life is going to be like.” 

The funding needed for Dr. Rosa’s therapy would be life changing in the way of new treatment options and potentially lead to a cure for this horrific disease.

I am determined to see that there is so much more to life than what society is telling me. I’ve decided that I would not conform to societies rules, and instead, tell society how I am going to live my unique and authentic life with IPEX.

I appreciate your time and consideration to fund this important research.”