"Maybe you should think twice about having children."

[carole]

Ok well at about 19 when i was single i was told the news that we have a hereditary disease in our family Huntingdons Chorea, at that time it did not mean too much to me and as i was not looking at marriage or having children i gave it not much thought.

Now as you all know i have two children, for those who do not know much about the disease, it is one that can be passed on and does not usually hit until say mid fifties and onwards,it is not a very pleasant one and yes eventually leads to death,I and all my cousins decided to have children because one there is a good chance if my mother does not get this disease then i will not and neither will my children, so far my mother does not have it and is in her seventies, it is looking good but we can only live in hope, there is also a chance of a cure before my children reach this age, and that is why i chose to have children, because one they may not even get it and two a cure could be available by then,i also figured the chances of getting cancer are probably higher,some may see this as the wrong choice , but i certainly do not and do not regret having had my scott and Melissa.

I also have known people with children with cystic fibrosis,infact my ex husbands sister had a son with it,having a second child would not be a good idea in this case, as they too would have it, is that correct?

I think it really is up to the individuals to make the decision, having autism etc in the family certainly would not stop me having a child,as long as you are willing to take on the responsibility of that child, it is no ones business but your own IMO.

[Glacier]

I also have known people with children with cystic fibrosis,infact my ex husbands sister had a son with it,having a second child would not be a good idea in this case, as they too would have it, is that correct?

Not quite. There is a one in four chance that the child of two CF carriers would be born with the disease. Both parents must be carriers for any of their offspring to get CF. However, unaffected children would be carriers and potentially pass the disease on to their children, if they had kids with another carrier. The vast majority of people have no idea if they are carriers of CF or most other genetic diseases. (My sister was misdiagnosed with CF many years ago)

My brother suffers from Hemachromatosis, the most common genetic disease among caucasions. He is the only affected person on any side of his family(we have different mothers so he has some different relatives than I do). His specialist says the disease has been in our family somewhere for generations, but it requires specific triggers to activate it. Big bro' just happened to do the things that set it off. He had three kids by the time he was diagnosed.

If everyone decided not to have kids because of some genetic possiblity, no one would have them! Every family has a diabetic, an alcoholic, a cancer patient, ect, ect, ect......