Hey everyone. My mom is still in surgery right now and still haven't heard anything. No news is good news, right? Anyway, I couldn't sleep very good last night thinking about mommas surgery and also started to get very apprehensive about having a child of my own. Dr. Steinberg is going to order me an MRI when my fam comes home to see if I have it. With this new possibility that my moms dad might also have had this disease, would I pass it to my child whether or not I have it myself. Are there any tests they can do to see if I am carrying this disease? I really want to have kids when the time is right, but I do not want to bring a child into this world and pass from my body such a terrifying disease to my child or childeren. My husband never thought he would have and didn't want kids until we met, now he really wants us to have kids someday, but I'm just so scared. After going through all of this with my mom, I just don't think I could bear to go through this with a child, my child. And it would be all because of me I just don't know. Sorry to ramble on. Anything that yall think might be helpful in this situation I would love to hear. Thanks for listening.     Nikki

Nikki,

Don't worry about stuff like that.  There is a small 7 % chance that the children of a MM parent will have this illness.  Most people in the western world have secondary MM, which is related to other illnesses.  Primary MM which is found in Mongolian races (Japan, Korea, China etc.) It still is a 7 -10 % chance it can be passed on and it can skip or 90- 93 % not ever come out again. So please do not put your life on hold because of that.  You have a better chance of getting in a deadly car crash then your children having MM, but you will drive your children somewhere and not give it a second thought, so you should do the same in that case.  The worst emotion in the world is fear, because it stops you from accomplishing and growing in life.  Out of all the stats I have read, I have never seen any information about more then two generations and your children would be forth generation form your grandfather.  So move on and live life like this does not exist, because there is a 93% it will not exist and 100%after two generations. 

Takes care

Wayne

Hi Nikki,

I asked Dr. Steinberg myself about the possibility of having a child with MM.  He asked me if anyone else in my family had MM and when I answered no, he replied that the chance of that was highly unlikely.

That said though, I truly don't believe there is enough study done to say anything for sure 100%. 
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or -- says:  "Approximately 10% of cases are familial, with approximately 76% occurring in sibs and 24% in a parent and offspring."

This is what I take some comfort and reassurence in:  You are already in the "know" about MM so you would know what to look for symptom-wise, what treatments are available and who to go to should the need arise.  Most importantly, there is treatment for MM, whereas so many other diseases have none or chances of survival are bleaker.  Looking at the big picture, I guess I just feel that there are worse things that I, or any children I should have, could suffer from than MM.

Don't worry too much about it!
Lisa

Nikki...I have come across many who have the same fears as you have my whole life. While there is no MM in my family (Our Cara and as are our three teenage boys were adopted)...My father is diabetic (type 2) and has pernicious anemia (B12 defiency which affects the oxygen in the red blood cells if you lack it...therefore causing peripheral neuropathy)...i also have all those problems plus (premature ovarian failure and thyroid disorder)...I found that each generation those diseases come at a younger age...so I was glad my kids were adopted....so they wouldn't have what I have now (which didn't surface until the past couple years)...BUT they have their own other problems from their biological parents (for all four...we have no idea the medical history)...it was a risk we were willing to take...as babies they were healthy...but as life progresses on and as you love your child MORE and MORE....whatever happens you are "IN IT" with them....you change, you grow as a person, you deal with it...you just have an whole new outlook...a different path to follow.  This past week I was observing at the hospital while Cara was recovering from her second surgery....all the other problems children were having from cancer to minor things...the parents simply being there, hanging there is amazing.   I lost my sister to leukemia (actually side effects of experimental chemotherapy and drugs - 1962)...she lived another 13 years....I was 18 when she died and she was 16.  Im now 47 and am AMAZED how far medical technology has come...and know my sister would probably still be around.   So in my mom's case...Mom and Dad are healthy young couple...they had me (1st) and then Karen second...then Jay and Andy followed.    But at 3 I had meningitis..almost died...but lived with total hearing lost,  Karen at 3 had leukemia...my brothers have been lucky...but what we went thru wasn't hereterary...never know.   I also know a family who just had one child because the child had a disorder the father had...they didn't want any more because of that reason...the child eventually outgrew the disorder (I forgot what it was) but a cure was found or medical technology was able to help in the early stages...but the sad part was the child as a teenager was killed in auto accident.  You never know...Wayne is right we cannot live in fear...we have to make the best of it each day...so should something happens...you have nothing but good memories.    Tight hugs,  CarasMOM