Aggregated News
There are precious few tests in medicine, save pregnancy perhaps, where a positive test result is good news. Particularly in the realm of genetics, testing positive for a mutation is often devastating, portending gloomy days of sickness ahead.
But there is help out there for people with a positive genetic test result, as well as something of a protocol for them to follow so they feel empowered moving forward.
After Cassie Barnes’ third miscarriage, her doctors ordered extensive blood work that involved genetic screening. One of the unforeseen results of the test was that Barnes, who lives in Cincinnati, was a carrier for the genetic mutation that causes cystic fibrosis, a debilitating condition that people often die from before they turn 40. Barnes, now 41, had once watched a fellow graduate student suffer from it, so even though Barnes was only a carrier of the condition, and not at risk for suffering from it herself, the thought of passing it to a child someday scared her.
But Barnes, who works in development communications for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital...