The class experience

This class was DIFFICULT!!!!  I enjoyed the struggle though. I can say this class is definitely not a walk in the park. You have to put every bit of effort you have into it. Even if it means stay up till the crack of dawn to get that multi genre project in. The MGPs were a great idea, I think you should continue doing this exercise with your future students. It gives students the chance to express themselves in different ways. Weather it was through a personal essay or a power point. It puts a big twist on the traditional ESSAY.... Although it is super time consuming. The library was definitely my friend this year!

MGP Interview

I think my interview went over very well. I was kind of nervous at first but Ms. Bell, Shelton and Raines were very talkative. They also asked a lot of questions so there were never any quiet moments. They are also mothers, so they could relate to everything I was saying. They told me that they think the Government should control how far you can go to alter a child. There should be an ethical limit to what is right and wrong. I can honestly say that I expressed my self and the knowledge that I have about my topic to the best of my abilities. And got very good comments. My power point was being very uncooperative. Over all it was really good. I enjoyed the experience:)

journal entry

Dear journal, day 736

       Today I was strolling through the park when I caught a view of a couple pushing a stroller. The stroller held a curly red haired baby with rosy red cheeks. This made me halt, and I was over came by sadness. All I could do was staring for a few moments. I have always longed to be a mother, but my mitochondrial disorder is the hindrance that is in the way of my dreams (wordy). The disorder I have is one that affects all the cells in my body aside from red blood cells. Having mitochondrial disorders, I am at high risk for mutations that can occur in my DNA. The mutations that can possibly be present are heart failure and hearing loss. In some cases death can occur with mitochondrial disorders.  I just couldn't bring a child into this world with so many risks, especially if all of his/hers health issues are my entire fault. That would be wrong of me wouldn't it? Life just isn't fair. 

Dear Journal, day 800

     Today I went to the doctor for a checkup with my OBGYN. The conversation we were having made a shift and we then started talking about the condition I have. I wanted to know if there were any possibilities of having a child without passing my mitochondrial disorder down to my children. Then I was informed by my doctor that there have been new scientific discoveries that can allow me to have children without passing my disorder down. The studies are new, not everything is fool proof, but it is definitely worth a try. The procedure is called a "Three Parent" fertility procedure. The way this would work is scientists would use my egg, a different egg from another woman, and the sperm of my spouse to create an embryo. The doctors will use the nucleus of my egg (which carries my DNA) and combine it with the non nucleated egg from the other woman. Then the egg will be fertilized by the sperm. All this procedure does is remove my healthy DNA to another egg with non mutated cytoplasm. The disorder that I have affects the cytoplasm in all cells in my body. So the nucleus of the egg that carried my DNA is not corrupted and is perfectly fine it just needs healthy cytoplasm. Hopefully with this procedure we can start a family and become the parents we want to be..... Feeling EXCITED:)

Works cited: Margalit Yehezkel, Hirano Michio, Loike Jhon; "Three Way Parenthood" The Scientist. October 1, 2013. Web.  April 9, 2014.

 Dear Mr. Kantor,
   
          Dear Mr. Kantor,

    

          I am doing a multi genre project in my English 4 honors class and my topic is genetics. We go to the library and search for articles on our topic. I came across your article about the genetic connection. I noticed that the main topic in your article is about MS, which means multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system.  I learned that Huntington's disease is a genetic neurological disorder and is inherited if you posses one gene that tells your body to develop this disorder. Then there are other diseases in which you have to have a gene form each parent in order for a disease to attack. An example of autosomal recessive disorder is the Sickle Cell Anemia disease. A person needs to have two sets of genes for Sickle Cell disease to attack the body. In a confusing way I learned a lot from your article about the genetic connection. One interesting thing that I learned from your article is about the twins. Even though they have the same genetic makeup, their environmental exposure is not the same. So one twin may be heavier, making the heavier twin higher risk of developing a medical condition related to weight. I have never looked at twin conditions like that before. I guess it should have been obvious, considering i have a set of identical twins in my family, 3 sets actually. But the set of twins I am talking about seem identically alike, but one weighs about 15 pounds more. Now I know that it is just the environmental exposure that makes one heavier, not their genetics.

          It sounds like you haven't fully mastered the knowledge about MS yet from what I read in your article. Does MS develop under certain environmental conditions or is it genetics, or is it both? The descendants of a person with MS have an approximately 2% chance of inheriting MS, but the risk of having a heart attack in  the American population is 10%. So this means that a child of a person that has been diagnosed with MS is more likely to have a heart attack than develop MS. Sir, if you happen to dig into the studies of MS deeper, please post another article. I would like to know if MS is inherited or just environmental.

                                                                               Sincerely,
                                                                               BCHS student

Genetic testing on newborns and the unborn

Genetic testing on newborns and the unborn

GENETICS

        If you had the chance to know your child's entire genetic makeup the day he or she was born, would you really want to know? There are two separate ways to look at genetic testing. The first way is having the knowledge....is power, in some cases. The second is if you don't know, it can’t hurt you. Sometimes I believe parents want to know because of the, "just in case" factor. If something is wrong, then they are better prepared for bad news. If you would've asked for my opinion a year ago, I would have told you I would not want to know what my sons make up were, yet when I was 15 weeks pregnant, I got curious... I went against my beliefs and went through with a fetal screening to see if Drake had Down’s syndrome.  I thought I didn't want to know the results, because no matter what the results, I would love my son unconditionally anyway.  There was not a thing I could do to change the outcome of the results. Yet, I still proceeded with the test for that; "just in case" reason I brought up earlier in my essay. I realize that maybe I DID want to know so that we could better prepare ourselves just in case the results weren't good. When the test results came back, I was so nervous (and my stress level was about to cause a massive explosion), because something like genetic abnormalities is a big deal...this is our child’s life we are talking about. The #1 con of having genetic testing done is that the outcome of the test results can be so stressful, and no matter what the results are, it is what it is, and the results and conditions of the child’s life are going to be up to God. (Finally, I had the test results. The results came back negative for Down syndrome, I had clarity, I had relief, and I had knowledge.) I didn't have to worry about the” what if” or the not knowing part of the pregnancy anymore; I just felt satisfied. Being at the state of unpreparedness would have scared me even more. 

            It is such a hard choice make...genetic testing. (I don't know or even have a clue as to what I would do if the test results were different.)I believe I am so set on my opinion about genetics because my story is so good. I was blessed with a perfect, healthy, baby boy , some parents aren't that lucky.I was okay with the testing. But just what if the results weren't good? Would I still be okay with knowing? Or would I just be mad, upset, and angry with God! These emotional flaws are why I think it is good NOT to know, say a woman is carrying a baby that has the gene that carries Down syndrome, but she didn't know the baby had this syndrome; the woman would still have a normal, happy, and healthy pregnancy. The mother would have no knowledge of this complication. Therefore, she would not have the stress that comes along with knowing. She would have less stress not knowing and would keep the child from more harm by lowering the stress level . But the fact that the unknown is still unknown leaves the family from being prepared. It is a very, very hard decision, choice, even opinion, what would you want to do?

Genetics

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/children-would-you-get-a-genetic-test-for-your-newborn-091113

http://www.life123.com/parenting/pregnancy/prenatal-tests/prenatal-genetic-testing.shtml?o=2800&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com