Saturday 3 November 2012

Sad Consequences



“Sad consequences”

Not that I’m one to harp on about things, well not much! But, something else I thought about is the fact that my eyes are really bad now, especially night driving. Also my ears are extremely sensitive to noise. The only thing that doesn’t hurt or isn’t affected is my toes funnily enough as they can usually be affected with iron overload. :)

Unfortunately, my sister Patsy died at the young age 50 with cirrhosis of the liver and yes she did drink quite a lot, and I have always said that even though she was a heavy drinker I had seen people able to drink her under the table any day. Sadly she probably also had the H H gene disorder but nobody even thought of it and that was in 2003. It upsets me when I think that perhaps if it had been picked up sooner she may still be here with me now. :(

Now here’s the thing! My eldest son Anthony who as a very poorly child was diagnosed, with what we thought and were told initially was a heart murmer, it was only when he reached about 14 he was then diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He then later also developed dilated cardiomyopathy followed by heart failure and finally had a heart transplant in 2006.

Now, this is apparently a condition which can be brought on by hemochromatosis, though he was never tested for that. So this gene defect can manifest itself in many guises and has a good deal to answer for. Personally I think it warrants more research and development as it is possible that this silent killer could be the cause for many fatal consequences, which, found early on in life, could be monitored and controlled.
Just think about it? Iron is rust and rust corrodes. Hemochromatosis can and probably will kill if left undetected.

Isn’t it about time this disease justified a simple blood test made available to everyone? Especially, when young babies are born, this could easily be done as a matter of course alongside other blood tests

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