I understand that. Your child can still pass along the gene, why would you burden them with that? |
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As long as your husband has a very thorough genetic screening (I recommend going through Ambry genetics if possible, it's what CF clinics use for genetic testing), go for it. Both biological parents have to be carriers in order for a baby to have CF. My husband has CF so all our children will be carriers. There's no need or possibility of doing PGD unless your husband is a carrier. I believe CF is carried by about 1/25 Caucasian people, so it's not unusual to be a carrier. We actually found out after my daughter was born, that I was a carrier for 2 other diseases that weren't included in our initial IVF genetic testing, so my daughter has possibly inherited more rare disease genes from me than from her father.
That being said, there are a couple thing I would warn about having a child that's a CF gene carrier. A) sometimes men who are even just carriers for CF are born without a vas deferens. It's why we had to do IVF and I've seen a few other a ladies in IVF groups that have the same diagnosis, but their husbands were only carriers and didn't have the disease. B). Be warned that it's very possible to have a false positive on newborn screenings. My daughter oddly enough had a false positive for the disease I'm a carrier for, but not for CF which she is a carrier for as well. A family friend have a false positive for CF from just her baby being a carrier. So if you do go with this donor, don't worry if there is a flagged newborn screening, as long as your husband's genetics are fine, it's practically impossible that your baby would have CF. |
Don’t be so dramatic. Something like 1 in 30 people is a carrier. |
Agreed. And as for the silver lining of infertility being genetic screening, you don't have to do IVF to get that done (although I am annoyed that OBs don't recommend the service more often to people before people start thinking about having children). |
| No, I would not. There is a good chance any child who had the gene would end up with another CF carrier, making their own offspring potentially affected by CF. Frankly I think it’s irresponsible of the clinic to allow her to donate. |
If clinics ruled out every donor who is a carrier of something, there would be literally 0 donors to chose from. Even if someone's carrier screen is negative, I can guarantee you they carry something else that isn't on there. Seriously, nobody is genetically perfect. Maybe Beyonce. |
| I was really picky looking at donors first. Then I realized that if I was a donor no one would pick me with all my families medical issues so I became less stringent. There isn’t a perfect donor out there. |
All the more reason to avoid. |
CF is a relatively common mutation so you’re foolish if you risk making your child a carrier. You obviously do not understand what it’s like to have a genetic risk like that and face multiple terminations or an affected child. |
| OP you should talk to a genetics counselor. When we picked out donor who was a carrier for a pretty bad disease we had a consultation and then moved forward. You’ll find out the real stats from them. |
Agreed. The thing is, CF is SO common. Almost any other detected disease marker would be less of a risk to grandchildren. |
Exactly. If you can give your kid the gift of not being a carrier that's huge. They will never have to worry about their kids someday. |
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No. For all the no reasons previously stated. No donor is perfect but you do get to pick (unlike if using your own), so you do need to consider heath issues from an ethical perspective. Being a carrier for CF means there’s a good chance your child will need to do ivf with PGS later and worry about accidental pregnancy. Hopefully health insurance will mean it’s not a huge financial burden, but that’s still a potentially significant obstacle to knowingly put in a child’s life.
If it were an uncommon and less severe recessive disease, yes. |
Ridiculous. If OP’s husband is not a carrier then there is only a 25% chance their child will be a carrier (and a 0% chance s/he will have CF). And since about ~3% of people generally are carriers, you’re talking about a less than 1% chance overall that the child will be a carrier marrying a carrier. Finding a great donor is hard. So long as OP’s husband isn’t a carrier this is a non-issue. |
| Also by the time this child is having a child of their own, we will probably be able to edit this stuff out with crispr etc. I honestly think this thread is crazy and people are making a big deal out of being a carrier. To correct a previous poster, it will be 50/50 for offspring of this donor to be a carrier. Which is fine. |