CF and having children, advice please

hi my partner has CF, he says he only has it mildly and had a sperm test about 4 years ago and he wasnt infertile then. he's now 27 and im 31 and were thinking about having a baby. is this going to be a hard process with what he's got and the fact im not getting any younger.? also because he has CF does this mean he will automatically be a carrier as well? any advice wud be great thanks x

Hi,

Yes any children you have together will be guaranteed carriers of the cf gene. Whether the child ends up with cf though will depend on your genetics and if you are a carrier of the cf gene. If you turn out to be a carrier then there is a 50/50 chance your child could have cf. I would seek genetic counselling. They can test you for the cf gene and then you can go from there. If you are a cf carrier then all is not lost, you can go through something called PGD. You have hormones injected so you produce more eggs. They then take the eggs and mix with your partners sperm. The eggs are left to grow for a few days and then they are tested to see if any have cf. Ones that don't will be put back in you to grow. It can be a very expensive, physically and mentally exhausting process though.

Hope this helps
Gem x

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Hey, I'm Gem with CF, age 25 and diagnosed at 2 years old. I'm from the UK and say weird things sometimes. I'm no expert but I've lived through a lot of CF stuff.
Diagnosed with: Cystic Fibrosis, Asthma, ABPA, Clinical Depression, Mild Liver Cirrohsis, Mild Osteopenia, Erythema Nodosum. Waiting for final diagnosis on Muscular Dystrophy type thing.

Post Edited (Gemsi) : 11/25/2012 1:13:19 PM (GMT-7)