# Cystic Fybrosis



## Tessie (Nov 1, 2003)

Hi,

We are waiting for an egg donor, and have been advised that there is a lady waiting to be matched with a recipient of my blood group etc, however she is a carrier of cystic fibrosis. 

If my husband is not a carrier, would there be any risk to a baby? (supposing we were successful) 

Is it something you would advise a patient to proceed with?

Thank you for your time, Tessie


----------



## Sue MJ (May 4, 2002)

Hi Tessie,

Sorry to butt in on Peter's territory - but I do have a little knowledge regarding Cystic Fibrosis.

If your husband is not a carrier of the CF gene, then should you proceed with using this donor, then there will just be a chance that your baby will just carry the CF gene themselves, which in itself, should not pose a problem, other than it should be screened to see if it is a carrier, due to the implications of meeting up with a partner later in life that too is a carrier.

To actually be born with CF - both parents would have to be carriers and then there would be a one in four chance of having a child with CF.

I must admit, I am surprised that your Clinic will even consider using a donor who is a carrier, though, as I have said earlier, unless your husband is a carrier, then your child would not have CF - but I did think it was something that most Clinics were quite set against as far as having the possibility of passing on this gene any further.

That said - my husband does actually have Cystic Fibrosis himself, so although I am not a carrier, because he actually has the illness - then our child will definately be a carrier of the gene. 

What I would say is that although they can test to see if your husband is a carrier - there are so many strains of the gene, that they have not yet been able to detect all strains - although I do think they can now test for about 95% of the strains - depending on where they do the testing. A lot of localised testing shows up around 70% of the strains - however, I do know if they do send bloods to the Uni of Exeter - they do have a lab their that do test for the full range. This is where my samples went to be tested.

I wish you all the very best and no doubt Peter will respond to you and may be able to add some further light on the subject - obviously all my info is from personal experience as opposed from a 'Professional' point.

Take care,

Sue xxx


----------



## peter (Oct 2, 2002)

Tessie said:


> Hi,
> 
> We are waiting for an egg donor, and have been advised that there is a lady waiting to be matched with a recipient of my blood group etc, however she is a carrier of cystic fibrosis.
> 
> ...


----------



## Tessie (Nov 1, 2003)

Thanks for your help Peter, we have been offered an appointment to discuss it further, so we'll take it from there. I'm glad to hear that it is something you'd be ok about a patient doing though.

Tessie

PS. Thanks Sue, for your help. The reason we have been offered this donor is that we share a relatively uncommon blood group, and she is doing it as an egg sharer, so the chances of either of us getting a match are quite high, could easily be another year or two. Thanks for the info about uni of exeter though, I'll mention this at the appointment. Congrats on the pregnancy


----------

