‘I just want to live’: California man pleads with scientists around the world to ‘CRISPR me’
On one level, Malakkar Vohryzek always knew what was wrong with him. For as long as he can remember — he’s now 43 — the sun has been his enemy, making angry-looking moles pop up on his white-as-a-fish-belly skin like toxic mushrooms after a downpour.
At age 9, he bit one off. Since his teens he has had moles removed as regularly as other kids got haircuts, hoping to catch the growths before they became malignant. Because of his skin’s extreme sensitivity to sunlight, he takes every UV-blocking precaution, from SPF 60 sunscreen and hats and other cover-ups to, as a 19-year-old, working the graveyard shift as a waiter at Denny’s so he could commute in darkness.
