As President Donald Trump talked about medical breakthroughs, a two-year-old boy captured hearts in the Oval Office. Travis Smith, a toddler born deaf, became the highlight of White House events as he strolled, danced, crawled and playfully lay on the floor in the Oval Office.
The child, wearing a mini-suit but barefoot, broke away from her mother’s arms and began exploring the room, drawing laughter from officials and attendees. At one point, he did a short dance, then crawled and briefly lay face down.
Trump praises ‘incredible’ breakthrough
The event focused on health care affordability and medical innovation, which Trump praised at the event new treatments This helped restore Travis’ hearing.
“This is unbelievable,” Trump said. “He’s 100 percent deaf, but he’s had this amazing therapy and now he can hear his mom say, ‘I love you.'”
This therapy consists of Regeneron Pharmaceuticalsis part of a new wave of gene-based treatments aimed at tackling rare genetic diseases.
Travis was diagnosed with a rare genetic mutation linked to congenital deafness at 18 months old and received the treatment as part of a clinical trial.
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His mother, Sierra Smith, described the transition as life-changing. “He doesn’t know his name. He can’t hear me tell him how much I love him,” she said.
She added that now he can enjoy everyday sounds, including music. “He can listen to music, he loves it… he loves dancing, he loves instruments. I’m so proud of him. He’s been so brave through it all.”
Policies drive drug prices
this White House The event also marked an effort to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Trump announced an agreement with major pharmaceutical companies under his “most-favored-nation” initiative aimed at bringing U.S. drug prices in line with those in other developed countries.
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“With this news, 17 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies… have now agreed to sell their drugs to American patients at some of the lowest prices in the world,” he said.
