If I carry a genetic condition, what does that mean for my siblings, parents and children?
Genetic carrier screening is not designed to diagnose you with a genetic condition. Rather, the purpose of this test is to predict the risk of having a child with an X-linked or autosomal recessive condition based on your and your partner's result in combination.It’s also important to remember that we share half of our genetic information with our parents, full siblings and children. It can be worthwhile thinking about if you would share your results with your family before having testing because everyone has different tolerances and preferences for learning information. You might be surprised by a family member who would prefer not to know something you feel is important to share. At other times, you may learn something about yourself or your family that you would prefer to keep private. You may find yourself having to weigh sharing such information with other family members against your own desire for privacy - or their desire not to know.We know these conversations can be tricky, and that’s why we’ve created an email you can forward to your family to make starting that conversation a little easier. Ask your genetic counsellor how Eugene can help talk about genetic results in the family.