The Daily Populous Monday April 6th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by aol.com and submitted by Sandstorm400

Stock image of a portable hospital bed in hallway

Tatyana Thompson was diagnosed with sickle cell disease when she was 2 months old and endured intense pain throughout her life

When she became pregnant and gave birth to her son, her pain greatly intensified

After years of extreme pain, Thompson was able to participate in Johns Hopkins research for sickle cell treatment, and was eventually cured

A mother who was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at just two months old has been cured of the condition after undergoing an "experimental" treatment at Johns Hopkins University.

Tatyana Thompson told TODAY that she lived with the genetic blood disorder for her entire life, which routinely left her with moderate pain. But when she became pregnant with her son, the pain intensified dramatically, and didn't subside even after she gave birth.

She found herself repeatedly in the hospital with a sharp pain, which she compared to being slashed by a knife. “(It) can happen anywhere throughout your body … toes, fingers. I’ve had pain in my ears … A lot of the pain for me always happened in my arms, and my back, and my hips, my knees," Thompson told TODAY. "Knees was a big one, to the point where I couldn’t even get out of bed.”

The disorder causes red blood cells to become misshapen, resembling a crescent or a ‘sickle,” making them stick together, blocking blood flow and causing intense pain and eventual organ damage. It affects an estimated 100,000 Americans each year, according to Mass General Brigham’s Comprehensive Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Center.

More than 90% of those impacted by the condition are Black people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many of those diagnosed don’t live past their 50s and struggle with heart disease, strokes, kidney disease and joint problems.

To manage her pain, Thompson, a Black woman, would medicate with five milligrams of Oxycodone every four hours, but would have to supplement her doses with Tylenol or Motrin.

Eventually, she had to receive hydroxyurea, which is a form of chemotherapy that makes “the red blood cells more flexible,” according to the Mayo Clinic. It is “used to prevent painful episodes and reduce the need for blood transfusions” for sickle cell anemia patients.

During her time in the hospital, she continuously missed her infant son’s milestones, including when he said his first words and took his first steps. She recalled to the outlet that she was feeling “so over” the situation and needed something to change. “I can’t live like this,” she thought at the time. “I’m literally missing out on everything my son is doing.”

But then she learned that Johns Hopkins, the hospital where she was being treated, had a new sickle cell treatment research focusing on partial bone marrow matches (formally known as haploidentical bone marrow transplants), and she could try.

After learning that her younger brother, Dakota, was a 50% genetic match, Thompson underwent the necessary protocol to prepare her immune system to accept and maintain the transplant's foreign cells. By late July 2024, she finally underwent the two-hour procedure, which is described as similar to a blood transfusion.

The treatment was successful, and she was able to go home the same day. Thompson finally woke up for the first time in her life with a pain level of zero.

By January 2025, she was officially off pain medication and was able to celebrate with a family trip to Great Wolf Lodge. “I just remember going down those water slides and literally having the time of my life because I knew I wasn’t going to the hospital the next day,” she recalled.

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Thompson's doctor, the director of hematology at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Robert A. Brodsky, published a study revealing that the aforementioned research now has an overall 94% disease-free survival rate.“[A cure is now] available to the majority, almost the entirety, of sickle cell patients,” Brodsky said.

Read the original article on People

BSB8728 on April 6th, 2026 at 02:58 UTC »

Yes, it's wonderful. The first bone marrow transplant to cure sickle cell disease was performed at St. Jude Hospital for Children in 1983, and the haploidentical transplant described in this article is now offered at many centers across the nation.

Wjreky on April 6th, 2026 at 02:43 UTC »

How wonderful for her! I hope she gets to live a full and complete life

Interesting_Dingo_88 on April 6th, 2026 at 02:27 UTC »

Incredible!!! 🙌🏼❤️