What’s in your DNA?
An Irish genetic condition-Hemochromatosis
My husband’s mother was Irish. He was an only son with only daughters. His father and those before had passed before I had met my husband. So while I have some interview information from his mother about that side of the family, I can’t prove very far back. At one point I was in touch with my husband’s cousins, but have since lost touch. My daughter likes to travel and very much wants to travel to Ireland and reach out to relatives, so I need to provide her with some information. I’ve asked her to get her father to give a DNA test and hopefully, that will put me in touch with cousins on that side of the family. (Family names Fitzgibbon(s), Collins, Mellon, Cavanaugh, and Shearon. Shearon is the one believed to have immigrated to this county).
In determining what DNA test to recommend, I discussed it with Pat Stucky, who works at the library and teaches DNA genealogy classes, and is also the VP of our genealogy group. After discussing different possibilities, I decided to recommend the Ancestry test. Somehow in that conversation, I had told her that my mother-in-law had died of hemochromatosis, an over accumulation of iron in the body. She told me that it is known in Ireland as the Celtic Curse. Researchers have found evidence of hemochromatosis on the Emerald Isle dating back to the Bronze Age, and today 1 in 83 people in Irish has the condition.
Hemochromatosis, the Celtic Curse
Pat told an interesting story of how that condition developed. Over hundreds of years of not having iron poor diets and not enough nutrients, the Irish women developed the ability to get pregnant and bear children while being in an iron poor condition that would have killed anyone else. However, that ability to produce iron can continue into current times when women do have balanced diets. It is a genetic condition that my daughters and their children will need to test for. I found it interesting that in attempting to reach out with DNA and hopefully make contact with my husband’s family, that I was able to learn how a condition developed over time that affects my direct family.
What’s in your DNA?
https://www.healthgrades.com/explore/hemochromatosis-the-irish-health-curse
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-43245267
https://www.irishamerica.com/2013/08/fact-sheet-hemochromatosis/
https://www.toomuchiron.ca/2016/11/haemochromatosis-is-a-celtic-curse-which-silently-destroys-lives/
