Whoever knew that bringing children in the world means looking back into everyone's genes beforehand. All family's have gene's that hide deep dark secrets; some more deadly then others.
Cystic Fibrosis (CF), What is it? Well it is a defective gene that can cause terrible health problems. Cystic fibrosis, a defect (mutation) in a gene - the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene - changes a protein that regulates the movement of salt in and out of cells. The result is thick, sticky mucus in the respiratory, digestive and reproductive systems, as well as increased salt in sweat.
Many different defects can occur in the gene. The type of gene mutation is associated with the severity of the condition.
Children need to inherit one copy of the gene from each parent in order to have the disease. If children inherit only one copy, they won't develop cystic fibrosis. However, they will be carriers and could pass the gene to their own children. (Mayoclinic.org)
So it's a 1 in 4 chance in every pregnancy that a child will get CF. Let me make that clear; every time a baby is created to parents with the defective CF genes it's a 25% chance that child will be born with CF.
Sounds like nothing right. Well let's move to the next chapter about CF and what that means health wise.
