It's all in the genes

You might remember that I talked about one of the programs that Jono Lancaster featured in-What if my baby is born like me and this is one of the things that got me thinking about my own future despite the fact that I am not even 20 years old yet. The fact is that the decision on whether or not to have a child is a huge one for normal parents but it is complicated ten fold if TCS is involved.

If you take it at the simplest version that was previously considered as fact in that there is only one gene corresponding to Treacher Collins Syndrome then a person has a 50/50 chance of passing on their TCS to their offspring if their partner is unaffected and so to get it you either have to have a parent or both parents with it or you get it via a gene mutation (which is how I think I got it). This is further complicated by the fact that it is not a simple case of the child will have it to the same extent as the parent(s) instead the child might be barely affected or may have an extreme case which is far worse than the parent's/parents'.

I've read recently that there may be as many 3 genes corresponding to TCS including recessive genes which means that the person has to have two recessive alleles to have TCS (what we consider genes are actually two alleles which combine to give a certain characteristic for example a gene for blue eyes is actually two alleles that may not both code for blue eyes but act in a combination that result in it, in simplest terms if a dominant allele is present then the person will have the condition/characteristic related to that rather than the characteristic relating to the recessive allele, to have the condition relating to the recessive allele, both alleles must be recessive).

A couple of which one or both have TCS can have genetic testing done in order to try and pinpoint what genes they have that are affected and their chances of passing it on. Either way they have a number of options, they can go ahead and risk passing on it on and possibly ending up with a child who will need extensive surgery/care, they can try special ivf treatment in which they attempt to select and implant only those fertilised eggs not affected by TCS, they could use a sperm bank, they can adopt/foster or they can decide they don't want kids but of course even this is complicated by certain medical conditions that are triggered due to a woman not giving birth.

What really annoys me when you read comments posted on blogs about that programme in particular or comments on youtube and people post their opinion on what they should do when they in fact have no experience of having the condition or a similar one and are not parents/guardians of someone who does. I'm pretty sure that Jono having been bullied for his looks know how hard it is to have TCS and so will not make the decision lightly.

Speaking of comments on the internet some that I have read over the past months are truly disgusting, yes some may be trolls just trying to get a response but it is clear that some people mean what they are saying. The fact is that you cannot make judgements about whether or not people should have kids when there is a risk of passing on a genetic condition unless you have personally dealt with it either through someone you know having it, having it yourself or being a relative of someone who has it. Also in terms of insulting people directly there is a great quote in Dragonball Z where Goku-the hero tells Frieza-the bad guy that the reason he (Frieza) is insulting him and calling him names is because he is too weak to challenge him any other way. It is the same for the internet it allows people to get away with hiding behind their monitors, these people are weak and have to resort to insulting other people to feel good about themselves.

Thanks for reading and sorry for the lack of updates.

Exams

Sorry for the lack of updates currently studying for my first semester exams which for some reason are in January rather than before Christmas...I will not be posting any proper updates until after next Friday when my exams finish after which I will have two glorious weeks of freedom so expect a big update.

Also over 800 views, once again thanks for the support and I hope to make this blog even bigger and better this year.

Thanks for reading.