Xander’s eXtrodinary Care

As a typical teenage boy who enjoys anything to do with robotics, Xander likes eating sushi and staying up too late playing video games. In addition to his love of 3D printing and his dream of becoming an engineer, Xander is also a teenager living with sickle cell disease. A lifelong disease, patients suffering from sickle cell disease can go into a pain crisis at any moment. Xander has been a patient at St. Louis Children’s Hospital since his diagnosis as a baby and this is where he met WashU Medicine hematologist-oncologist Allison King, MD, MPH, PhD. While the future is unknown for how Xander’s body will continue to handle this disease, the research and progress being made is promising. Xander and his family are hopeful for the future of those living with sickle cell disease thanks to the research happening by our WashU Medicine physician-scientists and are confident there is no better place to receive care than St. Louis Children’s Hospital.