[Howell:] You may have heard of bubble boy disease. It's a rare genetic disorder that prevents infants from developing an immune system. Now doctors say they have found a new treatment for that condition and some are calling it a cure. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has this for us.
[Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent, Cnn:] Two-year-old Ja'Ceon Golden is a pretty typical toddler. Likes to play ball, plays peek-a- boo with the door. But when he was born, his aunt who takes care of him, Dannie Hawkins, thought moments like this might never be possible.
[Dannie Hawkins, Ja'ceon's Aunt:] What kind of life would that be, him not being able, you know, nobody touch him, he can't have friends. He can't go to the birthday parties, he can't swim, you know, how am I going to tell him as he gets older that he can't go outside?
[Gupta:] You see, when Ja'Ceon was born he screened positive for a genetic condition known as X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency disorder. It basically means he has no functioning immune system. You probably know it as bubble boy syndrome. The condition became a part of pop culture after John Travolta play a boy with the same diagnosis in the 1976 movie, "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble." Now, while kids didn't actually live in hermetically sealed rooms, it was critical to keep patients as best protected from germs and pathogens as possible.
[Unidentified Female:] This babies are prone to severe infections, opportunistic infections. If they are not treated properly on time or early on.
[Gupta:] Current treatment requires children with the diagnoses to undergo a bone marrow transplant and a lifetime of immune boosting maintenance with antibiotics and other drugs. But just this week, there's new hope for children like Ja'Ceon, because of a new experimental gene therapy treatment development at St. Jude's Children Research Hospital in Memphis. Here's how it works, researchers harvest the stem cells of kids like Ja'Ceon and insert those cells with healthy genes. Those cells are then infused back into the children. Where they repopulates and boost the immune system. Dr. Mort Cowan oversaw Ja'Ceon's treatment at the University of California San Francisco.
[Dr. Mort Cowan, University Of California San Francisco:] Three to four months post the infusion, not only was he able to go home and you know, start to live a relatively normal life, but we were able to take him off all complete isolation and all proactive medications.
[Gupta:] Ja'Ceon is one of eight children who were treated with this experimental therapy. It's been about a year and half up to two years now since they were treated and all are doing well. The groundbreaking results were published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" this week.
[Cowan:] I don't use the cure word very often for these patients, but I have to tell you that I truly believe that we have cured Ja'Ceon of his severe combine immunodeficiency disease.
[Unidentified Female:] Say hi.
[Unidentified Male:] Hi.
[Gupta:] For Ja'Ceon, it's the chance to truly live the life he was meant to live Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
[Howell:] We continue to follow the breaking news out of Sri Lanka. Authorities there say at least 138 people have been killed in six different explosions, those explosions hitting three hotels and hitting three churches. This as Christians celebrate Easter Sunday on this day, keeping in mind more than 560 people have been wounded in what is being described as a coordinated set of attacks. Witnesses and survivors are describing the scenes of horror. The nation's prime minister has condemned the attacks as cowardly and urged Sri Lankan to remain united and strong. Reaction is coming in from around the world as we continue to monitor events at the Vatican this Easter Sunday. The pope has not yet spoken about the tragedy in Sri Lanka. These live images from the Vatican this hour. But we are told he may make some remarks at noon during his homily. That's this hour of NEWSROOM. More news after the break. Stay with us.