S7 • E11 Jul 11, 2025
Congenital athymia is a rare condition in which a child is born without a thymus, which produces cells needed to fight infection. The Immune Deficiency Foundation states most children with the condition die by age 2 or 3 with only supportive care. Just days after Katie and JD had their son, Charlie, they were forced to bring him back to a hospital after test results showed he had no immune system. Not long after, he was diagnosed with congenital athymia, meaning he was born without a thymus, which produces cells needed to fight infection. Katie and JD feared their son's time was limited. But at their home in San Diego, they recount how Charlie not only overcame his disease but also the ordeal of being isolated from the world for over four years. Later, Medical Stories travels to New Berlin, Wisconsin, where Luke has been wrestling with his own immune deficiency. Luke's condition is a variant of WHIM syndrome, an extremely rare disorder that makes his body much more susceptible to infections. As a father of three, Luke shows how the disorder has also affected his family and how they've learned to adapt to life living with a rare disease. "Rare Rising" also features in-depth commentary from renowned experts Cathleen Collins, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Rady Children's Hospital and UCSD, and Teresa Tarrant, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Duke University.
