Am I a Carrier of GSD?

Posted on 18. Mar, 2007 by BMW in Education, Glycogen Storage Disease, Glycogen Storage Disease Dogs, GSD Resources

Since our family has been diagnosed and especially since we’ve batted a thousand on all four of our boys having GSD 1A many of our extended family members have expressed interest in finding out if they too are carriers of the genetic disorder.

The chances, of course, are rare that even if a person happens to be packin’ the GSD gene, that they will find that special someone to marry and they also happen to have the same genetic problem. I suppose that there is always the scenario where you’re family tree doesn’t branch and that would change the statistics around a bit, but really if that’s the case, you’ve got other issues deal with.

But let’s say you do find that one in a million like myself, there’s still only a one in four chance that your children will end up with both resessive genes needed to make up the magical formula needed for a successful GSD kid. Even with the odds bordering that of the lottery, there is a concern. Heck, we beat all of the above without even really trying, so i guess anything is possible.

There is comfort in knowing where your gene pool is tainted and what the potential is. I have to admit that a heads up that our kids were going to have GDS would have been nice. A lot of guesswork and worry could have been avoided. Anyway for those that wish to know about where to go to to find out if they are indeed on of the few chosen to carry on the legacy of Von Guerke’s here is a link to Duke University Glycogen Storage Disease Lab as well as Prevention Genetics which links are both found on The University of Florida’s Glycogen Storage Disease Program web site.

I won’t pretend to know much about the process or how it works. As I learn more I will add comments to this post. But hopefully this points those interested in the right direction and I encourage those that find out more to add their comments as well to the blog here.