<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>strider820</b></i>
Hi guys,
So, my wife and I found out with our first baby that we're both carriers for CF. Fortunately, our first child (now 18 months) isn't even a carrier, so we're pretty happy about that.
So we're struggling with the idea of having more kids. We both really want more kids of our own, but this whole CF thing has played a major role in our struggle. I was hoping to get a little bit of guidance from people that have CF, and people that have kids with CF. I have a few questions that I'd like to ask to help the ball get rolling.
Should CF be a show-stopper when thinking about having kids?
Does anyone have any experience with our mutations together (D1152H and Delta F508)? How has it presented itself? In the grand scheme of things, was it on any extreme of the CF scale? Is there anything you would want us to know about these mutations (either separate or together)?
How hard is it financially? I have really good health insurance from my work, but even with that, does it take a toll on the wallet?
How hard is it on the family? On your relationship as a couple? On your life, living with CF?
Thank you for any input you can give us. Really, we both want to just say have more kids, and figure it out later if the child has CF, but at the same time, we're so scared.
Joshua H</end quote></div>
Hi Joshua
Very difficult decision.
Our daughter has both DF508 and D1152H. What I can tell you is DF508 is a class 2 mutation and D1152H is a class 4 mutation. Our daughter is pancreatic sufficient (needs no enzymes) and her levels are above 500 so completely normal. Currently she has no real chest problems at all (obviously this can change) but her specialists are very hopeful that she should continue this way due to the class 4 mutation appearing to be dominant.
However, our daughter is only 2 and a half. We did make contact with a lady who carries the same genes and she wasn't diagnosed until her mid thirties and had very little chest problems, she was incredibly healthy.
Obviously each person is different and the class 2 gene could be more dominant for someone else and cause much more problems.
If you wish to discuss anything further feel free to send me a message.
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