CRISPR, a gene-editing technique, is being used for the first time by U.S. doctors on a 34-year-old Victoria Gray, a mother of four with sickle cell disease, according to NPR.
Gray was born with sickle cell disease back in 1985. She was told by doctors she wouldn't live past 6 years old "because the illness was [virtually] incurable."
"It is a painful blood disorder that make me high risk for strokes, heart attacks and organ failure," Gray said in her GoFundMe page.
Today, traditional treatments for sickle cell are bleak. Bone marrow transplants offer a chance at a cure, but they are high-risk and donors can be difficult to come by, according to the Mayo Clinic.
But CRISPR is offering an alternative, relatively accessible option with gene editing.
The process of gene editing is fairly straight forward: The defective gene is identified in the DNA sequence. It can then be modified, removed or replaced.
Jennifer Doudna, a CRISPR founder, described it in her TED Talk as similar "to fix a typo in a document."
In Gray's case, CRISPR is being used to edit her own bone marrow to produce an additional protein, which doctors believe will make up for the defective protein that causes sickle cell, according to NPR.
But CRISPR is much bigger than sickle cell.
Its potential abilities are so vast that it has sparked a moral debate over whether it will allow modern medicine to go too far.
The technology has the theoretical ability to bring back extinct species or customize your babies' traits, making it equally exciting and frightening. During a de-extiction conference, Ben Novak claimed, "Crispr put de-extinction on the plate."
A quote on the CRISPR website gives an idea of the power the technology will have:
"If scientists can dream of a genetic manipulation, CRISPR can now make it happen."
The technology has already led to drastic gene editing in China. To compensate for the exponential growth of its population, China is turning to CRISPR to increase their food production.
They also have pushed the envelope with defying the international medical community with the birth of CRISPR edited babies.
Here in the U.S., CRISPR research is in the works to tackle cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease, blindness, cancer and disease detection.
However, CRISPR is still in its early stages.
"I think that with any new technology...there are going to be a variety of viewpoints," Doudna explained in her TED Talk. "I think that in the end, this technology will be used for human genome engineering, but I do think without careful consideration and discussion of the risk and potential complications would not be responsible."
For now, Gray will take the risk to cure her sickle cell disease in faith.
"I always knew something has to come along and that God had something important for me," Gray told NPR.
Gray has set up a GoFundMe to help raise money for her medical treatments.