Parents hail 'incredible' results after six-year-old girl has sight restored by gene therapy

A six-year-old girl has had her sight restored thanks to a life-changing gene therapy on the NHS.

Saffie Sandford was the first to be given the cutting edge treatment that involved injecting a copy of the gene straight into her eye.

The schoolgirl, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, has the rare inherited condition Leber's Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), which stops cells in the eye from making a specific protein needed for normal vision.

Babies and children with the condition have low vision in daylight and no vision in reduced light. They can lose their sight entirely in adulthood.

Doctors said that without the treatment, Saffie would be blind by the age of 30.

Spider-Man fan, Saffie, was diagnosed at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London when she was five after her parents noticed she was finding it hard to see in the dark.

She was then transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) to have the gene therapy, called Luxturna.

The one-off therapy is a first-of-its-kind treatment for one of the genetic causes of LCA, containing a healthy copy of the eye gene.

Saffie's mother Lisa said: "Saffie's diagnosis came as a huge shock to us as we'd never heard of the condition or knew me and her dad Tam were carriers.

"It was such a rollercoaster of a journey, but we were so relieved and grateful when we heard there was a treatment available on the NHS for Saffie."

She described her condition as "really life-limiting" before the treatment, adding that she was blind in the dark, which made daily activities challenging.

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Saffie underwent eye gene therapy in her first eye in April last year and in her second eye in September.

She already wore glasses, having been diagnosed as short-sighted at the age of two.

"Having the gene treatment has been life-changing, it's like someone waved a magic wand and restored her sight in the dark," Lisa said.

"We've been able to take her trick-or-treating and out to restaurants in the evening - something that was impossible before."

She said Saffie's peripheral sight in the daylight has also improved and she's now able to spot hazards and has improved at school.

Her mother said she is now thriving and you wouldn't be able to tell she has the condition, adding that she can take part in normal activities that a six-year-old enjoys, such as playing on a climbing frame.

Lisa said the results have been "incredible", noting they are "eternally grateful that our little girl has been given her sight back".

"We know it might not last forever, but we feel fortunate every day that she has been given this chance," she said.

It comes as recently published research by researchers at Gosh and University College London (UCL) showed that Luxturna can improve sight and strengthen visual pathways at a critical stage of brain development.

(c) Sky News 2026: Parents hail 'incredible' results after six-year-old girl has sight restored by gene therapy