Giving to Jeans for Genes makes your £2 go a long way. Each year we offer grants to a range of charities within the genetic community. The money raised on Jeans for Genes day 2008 will benefit 18 different charities. This means that we can have a positive impact on hundreds of thousands of families, some of them with extremely rare genetic disorders.
Rhys with his mum and dad Rhys' story
Rhys is a great example of how Jeans for Genes can be really effective. He’s now a healthy, happy schoolboy but there was a time when doctors didn’t expect him to see his first birthday.
He was born with rare condition called X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-SCID). It’s often called ‘baby in the bubble’ syndrome as the children have to live in a sterile environment because they have no resistance to infection.
Rhys was the first boy to receive pioneering gene therapy, funded initially by the Primary Immunodeficiency Association and Jeans for Genes, at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
Doctors were able to put a working copy of the faulty gene into Rhys' body. The working gene then told his body how to create the antibodies it wasn’t producing.
Rhys is now cured of his condition although his doctors will continue to monitor his health. Gene therapy is still a young treatment but it's hoped that, with further research, it can be used to treat a wide variety of genetic disorders.
The money you raise this year will help to provide much needed care and equipment for children, information for health professionals and families, and much needed research that could transform the lives of children living with a wide range of genetic disorders.