Little girls and boys write letters to Santa Claus asking for toys, bicycles and puppies. The big man in red squeezes his way down their chimneys and nestles the goodies under the lighted tree. But what if the children ask for a cure to their disease? That wish cannot be wrapped in a box. For Keller Morrissey, happy, enjoyable Christmases are now in his future.
Keller, nephew of Ashley Johnston, used to have Chronic Granulomatous Disease, or CGD. CGD is an immune deficiency disease that does not allow the body to fight off infection from certain bacteria and fungus. Keller’s mother, Carly, is a carrier of this disease, though only males are affected by CGD’s symptoms.

“It’s an X-linked genetic disease that I can pass onto a boy, a 50-50 chance, or I can pass carrier status onto a girl (50/50 chance),” Carly said.

Keller soon received life changing news. His sister, Olivia was born. Since Olivia is a carrier of CGD as well, the possibility of a bone marrow transplant was introduced to attempt to clear the CGD from Keller’s body.

“Once Olivia was big enough, she went through about a 5-6 day process [for the transplant]. The first step is a 4-5 day regimen of injections. After injections, she had to have an out-patient procedure where doctors put her to sleep and installed a port in her carotid artery. With her being so young, they didn’t have lots of cases and she was a bit of a case study in that way unfortunately. They had a target number of cells they needed from Olivia to have enough cells for Keller’s transplant. The doctor called me ecstatically and reported that they had twice the amount they needed to proceed with removal of the port and start next step for Keller in process,” Carly said.

Keller’s part in the process was not so easy. He had to go through chemotherapy before receiving new cells. On April 11, 2013 Keller received his new cells, without the full effect of the chemo taking over.

“Even though doctors anticipated that his transplant would be easier than most, considering his donor was a perfect-matched sibling, they couldn’t know for sure. Unfortunately over the next year, Keller would have nearly every complication possible. By April 2014, Keller was able to discontinue taking the transplant-related medicines,” Carly said.

In October 2014, the Morrissey family visited the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, for his most recent checkup that involved blood testing. The doctors were able to determine that Keller was officially cured of CGD and he essentially has Olivia’s blood pumping through his veins.
The Morrissey family is reminded during Christmastime of how life would be so different without their son. Keller is a gift to Carly.
“[Keller’s cure] Is miraculous, just as the birth of Jesus to me. The way that science can help us to make life longer and also make the quality of life improve. It’s also a testament to God’s love for us that even though we may suffer he is always with us and working in our lives. I try to remember this every day, not only during the holiday season,” Carly said.