Hamid Ahmed and Yasmin Marshall’s case

Wellcome Connecting Science | Various | Empowering People: Genetic Counselling in Focus

Yasmin and Hamid experienced the loss of several pregnancies and wanted to understand their circumstances and options using the expertise of a genetic counsellor to avoid repeating this experience. After their last pregnancy loss a chromosomal translocation was identified in Hamid. This means that there is an unusual arrangement of a person’s chromosomes, the packages of DNA that we inherit from our parents. They were referred to their hospital’s genetic counselling service by their GP.

Genetic counsellors work with parents and prospective parents who are concerned about passing on genetic conditions to existing or future children. Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is a method to check embryos for serious inherited genetic conditions and Hamid and Yasmin wanted to have this test. Only embryos that are free of the condition are implanted into the woman’s womb. Having this test would mean that the couple would need to conceive via IVF even though they are physically able to conceive naturally.
Hamid’s chromosomal abnormality was a risk factor for future pregnancies and so the couple decided that, despite some of their misgivings about having IVF treatment, undergoing pre-implantation genetic diagnosis was the right option for them.