Project

[Guest guest]

Hello. My name is , and I am doing a project for my Biology II

class. I do not mean to intrude into your group, but I was wondering

if I could have your input on a particular situation. If you could

read this senario and tell me what you would do, it would help me

quite a bit. Please e-mail me a response titled " Project " . Thank

you very much.

Sincerely,

and Mollie Can Have a

Perfectly Healthy Baby

(or can they?)

and Mollie want to have children. However, they haven't tried

to start a family yet because they disagree on something important.

wants Mollie to get tested to see if she is a carrier for

cystic fibrosis (CF). Mollie doesn't want to do it.

People with CF have mutations in one or more genes. These mutated

genes give faulty instructions for the production of proteins that

help move salt in the body. One result is that the lungs become

clogged with mucus, making it hard to breathe. Another result is that

the body has a hard time digesting food. The disease can be painful

and lead to an early death.

had a brother with CF. He hated seeing his brother suffer so

much. His parents struggled with the hardship and expense of caring

for a sick child who never made it to adulthood. doesn't want

to repeat that experience in his own life. That's why he had himself

tested for CF. Unfortunately, he found out that he is a carrier.

CF is a recessive disorder. That means his children will have the

disease only if they inherit the mutated gene from both parents.

Mollie can get tested to see if she carries the CF mutation. If she

does, then when she gets pregnant they can have the fetus tested to

make sure it does not have two CF genes and is therefore free of the

disease.

Mollie would prefer simply not knowing what the risks are. She

figures that once a baby is in their arms, they will be glad they had

it, no matter what.

If you were Mollie or , what would you do?

[Guest guest]

,

I have a 5 year old daughter with Cf. If I had know like does

then most definitely would I want my spouse tested otherwise I would not

have children. I feel Molly is very selfish, its the child who will

suffer. She is irresponsible. I love my daughter more than life and

would do anything to change her having Cf.

(Australia)

Project

Hello. My name is , and I am doing a project for my Biology II

class. I do not mean to intrude into your group, but I was wondering

if I could have your input on a particular situation. If you could

read this senario and tell me what you would do, it would help me

quite a bit. Please e-mail me a response titled " Project " . Thank

you very much.

Sincerely,

and Mollie Can Have a

Perfectly Healthy Baby

(or can they?)

and Mollie want to have children. However, they haven't tried

to start a family yet because they disagree on something important.

wants Mollie to get tested to see if she is a carrier for

cystic fibrosis (CF). Mollie doesn't want to do it.

People with CF have mutations in one or more genes. These mutated

genes give faulty instructions for the production of proteins that

help move salt in the body. One result is that the lungs become

clogged with mucus, making it hard to breathe. Another result is that

the body has a hard time digesting food. The disease can be painful

and lead to an early death.

had a brother with CF. He hated seeing his brother suffer so

much. His parents struggled with the hardship and expense of caring

for a sick child who never made it to adulthood. doesn't want

to repeat that experience in his own life. That's why he had himself

tested for CF. Unfortunately, he found out that he is a carrier.

CF is a recessive disorder. That means his children will have the

disease only if they inherit the mutated gene from both parents.

Mollie can get tested to see if she carries the CF mutation. If she

does, then when she gets pregnant they can have the fetus tested to

make sure it does not have two CF genes and is therefore free of the

disease.

Mollie would prefer simply not knowing what the risks are. She

figures that once a baby is in their arms, they will be glad they had

it, no matter what.

If you were Mollie or , what would you do?

[Guest guest]

my response to your project is this i have 2 children one w/cf onewo/cf my

oldest child heather has cf she will be 18 in may my son is 14 and no cf. i

dont regret for one minute having a second child if they truly want children

she could be tested to be prepared in case she is a carrier but that should

be her choice. when i was pregnant with my second child they wanted me to get

amnio to see if the baby had cf i refused because it wouldnt of mattered

either way because i was gonna have it no matter what. i wish my child didnt

have cf i wish i could trade places with her but she has brought so much joy

into our lives she is a very outgoing young lady with a positive attitude and

a fight to love and live every moment of every day so i guess i got off the

subject but my thing is this God gives you what you can handle and he does

this for his reasons which we dont know why but if she is willing to take the

chance to have a child that could be born with cf then she is truly a

remarkable person who will make a great mom and it should be her choice bye

lisa

[Guest guest]

Dear ,

Here a respons from Holland. I hope my English is well enough to make my

statement clear.

I am the mother of Gwendolynn, 9 years old with CF. She is our only child.

She was diagnosed when she was five. The decision not have more children was

not CF related. In our family no one else had CF. We did not know that we

were both carriers.

After the diagnosis we told everyone in our family so that they could be

tested.

I agree with the father. I love my daughter very much. I did not have a

choice because we did not know we were carriers. Had I known I had my

partner tested and I had taken measures.

Your statement is however not complete. There is another possibility. After

the test is done, they can get an IVF pregnancy where they can be sure

before the cells are brought back into the body of the mother that no CF is

involved. This is possible in Holland. I do not know how this is in the USA.

However much I love my daughter, I should not choose to get another child

with CF if there was a possibility to avoid it.

Best regards,

Tine Zwaan