Groundbreaking gene therapy helps Florida boy see

A 9-year-old Florida boy has a whole new outlook, after years of struggling to see through the shadows. 

Creed Pettit, of Mount Dora, recently underwent a groundbreaking gene therapy to help him overcome a congenital eye issue that’s plagued him most of his life.

“He was diagnosed at three with Lebers Congenital Amaurosis,” said Creed’s mom Sarah St. Pierre.

Essentially, Creed could see fine in bright light, but in any other conditions he was essentially blind. As Creed put it Monday, he tripped over a lot.

“When I had my old eyes, yes,” said Creed.

Now though, Creed calls them his new eyes. 

He underwent the procedure at the University of Miami earlier this year using the gene therapy Luxturna. The method was just FDA approved and Creed was one of the first recipients in his age group.

According to the FDA Luxturna is approved to treat rare forms of inherited vision loss, like Creed’s.

“Like, it overrides the bad gene and puts in the good gene,” said Sarah.

Since the treatment Creed’s vision has had an essential turn-around. Sarah showed off videos of him finding his step-dad in the dark of night and discovering things he could never see before like umbrellas.

“It’s almost like raising a toddler in some ways because all the milestones he missed we’re now able to start showing him,” said Sarah.

Creed and his family have started a foundation, Creed’s Cause to help raise awareness of the disorder and help raise funds for its treatment.