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This is Fantastic: Shirley D’Sa on Transfusion-Free Christmas Milestone for 𝛃-Thalassaemia Patient at UCLH
Shirley D'Sa/LinkedIn
Jan 6, 2026, 10:10

This is Fantastic: Shirley D’Sa on Transfusion-Free Christmas Milestone for 𝛃-Thalassaemia Patient at UCLH

Shirley D’Sa, Professor of Haematology at United KingdomUnited Kingdom, reposted from University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on LinkedIn:

”This is fantastic!!!”

Quoting University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust‘s post:

”A UCLH patient with beta thalassaemia has spent her first ever Christmas without needing to plan her life around blood transfusions after a gene-editing therapy has left her able to produce her own red blood cells.

Kavita Mehta (pictured) has transfusion-dependent beta thalassaemia (TDT), which means she does not produce enough haemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen round the body.

This means she usually has to have a blood transfusion every three weeks.

Kavita said: “A life of regular blood transfusions is all I know.

I cannot believe that doctors have already seen signs that I am now able to produce my own red blood cells.

I can’t tell you what this means to me, and to my family who have had to watch me go through this and care for me.

And more than anything, I am thrilled that this drug is available on the NHS and may help patients who are much younger than me live a life independent of transfusions”.

UCLH haematology consultant Ben Carpenter, who has been treating Kavita, said: “We are pleased with the way things are going for our first patient.

She had a challenging time in hospital but is now feeling much better.

It has been more than two weeks since Kavita’s last red cell transfusion, and her levels are continuing to rise independently.

We are now seeing normal red blood cells being produced by her own bone marrow for the first time since she was born.”

Find out more.”

This is Fantastic: Shirley D'Sa on Transfusion-Free Christmas Milestone for 𝛃-Thalassaemia Patient at UCLH

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Gene therapy Health Hematology Hemostasis Hemostasis News Hemostasis Today Medicine Shirley D'Sa TDT Thalassaemia Transfusion Medicine UCLH University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
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