Cystic Fibrosis in egg donation

BJNurse · Jan 6, 2005

Cystic Fibrosis is a recessive gene so if the father is not a carrier the child will not have cystic fibrosis but will have a 50% chance of being a carrier themselves (anyone correct me if I'm wrong since it's been a long time since biology 101) . If the father is also a carrier then the child has a 25% chance of having CF and a 50% chance of being a carrier of the gene. It is definatley something that the father will want to get tested for. If he is not a carrier the child should still be aware that he/she might be a carrier which will be important when it comes time for that child to have children (I hope by then they will have found a cure!) I lost my first husband to cystic fibrosis at 25yrs old, it is a awful disease! Good luck.

rpbear · Jan 7, 2005

BJnurse said it perfectly. I have a nephew with CF who is 2 and is doing very well. Early detection and treatment are key.

I wouldn't worry about your 2 year old son, if he had CF you would have seen something by now. But your Hubby may want to get tested if you want to have more kids, you have a 75% chance of a healthy kid and 25% chance of a kid with CF if he is positive.

Good luck with everything!

live4today, RN · Jan 7, 2005

I would not donate my eggs if I were told they were genetically predisposed to passing on anything that would affect the life of someone else's child.

If I were told that I was receiving a donor egg from a woman who was a carrier of a genetic disease that could be passed on to the child, I would reject the donor egg.

imenid37 · Jan 11, 2005

Your son is probably fine. BUT you should go ahead and have testing done that is reccomended by your son's PCP. My daughter has a friend who sufferred persistent bouts of "asthma and allergies" for much of her life. At age 13, she was diagnosed w/ CF. It is a mild case, but nontheless, she is doing much better and would have done even better if diagnosis and treatment had been started earlier.

jeepgirl, LPN, NP · Jan 21, 2005

There have been cases of grown adults who have been infertile and battled respiratory diseases for their lives... and have had very very mild CF. I would test him if it were my child.

Loubell RN 2B · Jan 22, 2005

My personal opinion would be to not donate your eggs but even if you decide to go ahead with it, the physician would (should) have to disclose that the eggs were CF gene positive. After hearing this, I am sure that someone would think twice before assuming longterm responsibility for passing this gene on. The reason I say this, is that, I had a brother pass away 6 years ago at the age of 27. He had some good years but most of his years were spent in the hopsital and very sick. I would not wish this disease on my worst enemy. If the gene continues to get passed on, and so forth, there is a likely chance that someone will end up married to someone with the gene as well. Then in turn, they will have to sit down together and make some pretty rough decisions, and that is it they even know that they have the gene.

Good luck with your decision and I do think that it is a wonderful gesture that you are doing but please think long and hard.

Lynda in VA

renerian, BSN, RN · Jan 22, 2005

For me in myself, I would not donate........were that my case.

renerian

naggytabby, BSN, RN · Jan 22, 2005

Without going into a long story- it is rare but a child can have CF and it may not be diagnosed correctly. One of my friends has a daughter with CF thatw as not correctly diagnosed until she was almost 3. It was affecting her digestive system more than her lungs (and she was going to a huge top ranked university hospital). So..IF a toddler is having problems that don't have an answer, consider it (if appopriate) a possibility, unless you know your genetic self.

GOOD LUCK with your egg donation- you're giving a family a tremendous gift:)