A father of two has undergone a successful medical trial that seeks to cure patients with haemophilia A.

Jake Omer, 29, from Billericay, is one of the 13 patients granted a gene therapy trial at Barts Health NHS Trust. Only eleven of the trials are successful.

Mr Omer is like 2,000 people across the UK living with this genetic disorder which usually affects males.

Haemophilia A is caused by either a missing or defective clotting protein, also known as factor VIII.

And unfortunately for Mr Omer, he was born without the protein.

This means if a patient sustains a wound they would bleed longer than usual. Without proper treatment, it can be fatal.

Mr Omer started his gene therapy in February 2016 at Barts and Queen Mary University of London, where he now feels like a “new person”.

The therapy involves injecting a genetically engineered virus into his body, giving instructions to the liver to make factor VIII for his body. At first doctors administered low dosages but they had no effect. Eleven of the patients now have almost normal levels of factor VIII.

He told the BBC: “I feel I can do a lot more. I feel my body allows me to do more. I don’t think I would have been able to walk 500m without my joints flaring up, whereas now I think sort of two, three, four-mile walk. I could quite easily achieve that.”

Before the gene therapy, Mr Omer had needed at least three injections of factor VIII a week. He still remembers when he was a child he had lost two of his front teeth and he bleed for several days.

A minor injury could be fatal for him. When he walked there would be chance his joints would bleed and cause arthritis.

After the therapy, he discovered his body was responding to injuries the normal way.

In June 2016, Mr Omer had a gym accident where he dropped a gym weight and hurt his elbow but this time his body reacted normally and healed itself.