REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst


Song in my head:
I-M-P-E-A-C-H
7 little letters gonna set us straight
I-M-P-E-A-C-H
how much more are we gonna take
I-M-P-E-A-C-H
time to clean the white house out

Tom Chelston

Alter-Abled News

For those of you who don't know I was born with nail-patella syndrome. On the left is a picture of a typical person with nail-patella syndrome. Notice the misaligned knees and the bent elbows. Nail-patella syndrome is a painful condition with permanently dislocated knees usually arthritic, missing or tiny thumbnails, swayback and a predisposition for kidney failure and glaucoma. It is a genetic condition with a 50-50 chance for a pregnant woman passing the syndrome down to her children. I am a spontaneous mutation. None of my 4 siblings have this syndrome nor did my parents. My two kids did not inherit this condition from me either. I beat the odds. There are many undiagnosed people with these traits that are not aware that they have this syndrome. They run the risk of going blind or having kidney failure if they are not monitored regularly. So, if you know of someone with weird thumbnails, and bent arms and knee problems they just might have nail-patella syndrome.

A recent article in a UK newspaper explains this rare genetic condition.....

A family with a rare genetic disorder have warned of the potential dangers of not spotting it early enough.

Margaret Walker, 75, and her daughter Gail Duxfield, 45, both suffer from Nail Patella Syndrome, which affects just one in 50,000 people.
It affects bones and joints, and often sufferers have unusual kneecaps, joint pain and poorly formed fingernails.
Having the syndrome also massively increases the sufferer's chances of going blind or experiencing kidney failure. South Tyneside Today Link