The state of Maryland leads the nation as the fifth most populous area for people living with sickle cell, an autoimmune disease that prevents oxygen from flowing properly throughout the body.
It is described as debilitatingly painful by patients like Jessica Ceja, a 41-year-old Silver Spring wife and mother of three who Monday became the first Montgomery County resident and only Maryland adult to receive a rare stem cell treatment approved by the FDA that uses the patient’s own DNA, genetically engineered to help mitigate the side effects of sickle cell, and possibly even cure the disease.
The treatment allowed Ceja to bypass the process of having to look for a stem cell donor and match…