DSD’s Dria Accepted for Transplant at Duke University!
COO Kayley Bell’s vibrant 4-year-old granddaughter Alexandria “Dria” Cresci has been battling Complete DiGeorge Anomaly since infancy. Born without a thymus gland in the neck, Dria could easily be one little virus away from death, but today we celebrate her acceptance to Duke University Hospital in North Carolina for a life-saving transplant!
The disease that affects just one in about 300,000 babies who are born without a thymus gland in the neck. They generally die by age 2 if it’s untreated. In an article from January 2019, Kayla Cresci is quoted saying “Alexandria is truly a walking miracle. She’s your typical 4-year-old but with no immunity. She has an imagination of her own and always has us laughing and keeping us on our toes.”
Even when Alexandria is taken to doctor appointments, precautions such as wearing masks and special clothing are taken by both family and medical staff to ensure she doesn’t receive an infection. Thymus transplants for Dria’s condition are offered at only one facility in the country — Duke University Hospital in North Carolina — and the program has been stalled for the past year while awaiting FDA approval.
The family and DSD have been hopeful that Dria was at or near the top of the transplant list because she is older than most of the children and has been awaiting a transplant for more than two years now.
Children who have the transplant have about a 70 percent success rate so we are thrilled to share this approval news with the DSD community!
