2-Year-Old Deaf Boy Cured By 'Miracle' Gene Therapy Steals Show At White House Event

Two-year-old Travis Smith was born deaf, but regained his hearing thanks to Otarmeni, a gene therapy drug recently approved by the FDA.

John Rigolizzo

Published: 4/25/2026, 4:52:38 AM EDT

2-Year-Old Deaf Boy Cured By 'Miracle' Gene Therapy Steals Show At White House Event — Two-year-old Travis Smith and his mother Sierra (R) react during an event with President Donald Trump on advancing health care affordability in the Oval Office of the White House on April 23, 2026. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

A young boy stole the spotlight from President Donald Trump on Thursday—one with an inspiring story.

Two-year-old Travis Smith was born deaf, but regained his hearing thanks to Otarmeni, a gene therapy drug recently approved by the FDA. At an Oval Office event with pharmaceutical manufacturer Regeneron—the maker of Otarmeni—Smith stole the show, playing on the floor just outside the frame of the Resolute desk.

"Here with us is two-year-old Travis Smith. He was born deaf. Was he totally deaf? Pretty much, right?" the president said, looking off to his left to Smith's mother, Sierra. "He was 100 percent, but he took this miracle cure, and now he can hear his mom, Sierra, say, 'I love you.'"

Sierra Smith then spoke up as a White House staffer handed Travis to her.

"He didn't know his name," she said, with Travis cooing and squirming in her arms. "He couldn't hear me tell him how much I love him. And now with Regeneron and this amazing surgery, he can listen to music, and he loves it; he loves to dance, and he loves instruments. And I'm so proud of him; he's been so brave through all of this. And yeah, now he can hear and he has a bright future ahead of him."

Trump thanked Smith again for coming, and called Travis a "beautiful boy." He asked if he was living a happier life now.

"He is so full of energy and love now, and he was such a serious baby," she said.

"And before that it was, it's very tough for babies," Trump said.

"Oh, for sure," Smith replied. "He can't tell me what he wants, or what he wants to eat, or what he needs, and now he'll be able to do that—it's life-changing."

While Smith and Trump were speaking, the White House live feed zoomed out and panned right, showing young Travis lying and crawling on the floor barefoot. White House press photographers were seen taking pictures of the boy, as the same staffer picked him up again.

The White House X account took one of those photos of Travis lying on the floor and posted it with the caption "ALMOST FRIDAY."

Approved by FDA

In a press release on April 23, Regeneron announced that Otarmeni was "the first gene therapy and second new molecular entity approved under the FDA Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program."

Otarmeni is a viral vector-based gene therapy that treats sensorineural hearing loss caused by a variant of the OTOF gene. This gene variant causes a lack of a functioning otoferlin protein—which is responsible for communication between the sensory cells of the inner ear and the auditory nerve. The structures of the ear are otherwise fully intact.

The condition is very rare, affecting about 50 newborns per year in the United States. Traditionally, the condition was considered permanent and was managed by lifelong use of hearing aids. Otarmeni is administered by delivering a working OTOF gene to the hair cells that express the otoferlin protein via a viral payload implanted into the cochlea in much the same fashion as a cochlear implant.