Nadia Billous is a mother of two young sons, including 9-year-old Andryusha who was diagnosed with GRIN2B-related neurodevelopmental disorder. Nadia and her family are Ukrainian and lived in Kyiv at the time of Andryusha’s birth. At first, he was a typical, healthy baby but began to have some alarming symptoms around 3 months of age which led to a 7 year odyssey to identify this rare diagnosis. Andryusha was receiving therapies and interventions to help him gain strength and prove his quality of life which were abruptly impacted by the war in Ukraine. In this episode, Nadia talks about her lif ..read more

This episode was originally published in August 2018. Last Sunday, Sophie ran the London Marathon—her first of 36 marathons she plans to run in 36 days, as she raises money for Cystic Fibrosis Trust. You can follow Sophie's progress on Instagram @sophiegraceholmes Sophie Grace Holmes was born with Classic Cystic Fibrosis (CF). When she was 19, a doctor told her she was going to die within a few years. She set out to prove him wrong, quitting her office job and organizing her life around health and fitness. Sophie is now 27 years old. She is a fitness model, a trainer, a massage therapist and a ..read more

Eleanor first interviewed Heather in 2018. At that time, Heather was several years out from completing a prophylactic mastectomy and oophorectomy related to her BRCA1 mutation and was living in Singapore. Her children were ages 10, 12, and 13. Heather shared her story of losing her mother to BRCA1-related breast cancer when she was only 13 and her determination to learn her risks and take all the steps she could to be there for her children. Today, Heather is living in Spain and her children are 15, 17, and 19. When I reached out to Heather about a follow-up Next Chapter interview, they had al ..read more

As a teenager, Devin experienced what she now describes as mito crashes and thought it was just a normal part of being a teenager. Her older brother led the way to a shared diagnosis of an autosomal recessive mitochondrial disease: mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. Devin’s diagnosis came as she was beginning to develop an identity as an adult. In college, she found community, support and activism among other disabled students and started identifying as Disabled. Today, as a genetic counselor, she brings her perspective and activism to the subjects of eugenics, disability, and inclusion: “I ..read more

Eleanor first interviewed Melanie in 2018. She was 29 years old at the time and had received a diagnosis of Lynch syndrome just before turning 25. Melanie shared her experience with receiving a diagnosis, recommended screenings and related challenges with health insurance coverage, and how Lynch impacted her experience with dating and thinking about having her own family one day. Today, Melanie is 35, recently married, and 28 weeks pregnant! In Next Chapter interviews, we check back in with previous guests on Patient Stories to see how their stories have continued to unfold.  Related Res ..read more

This episode was originally published in February 2019. On June 24, 2024, ⁠Roe v. Wade was overturned⁠. A few related links have been updated. Erika and Garin were 30 weeks into a complicated pregnancy when they learned that their pregnancy was not viable. Erika was denied an abortion due to New York’s 24 week cut-off so the couple travelled to Colorado to terminate her pregnancy. Their experience with New York’s abortion law, and the realization about how others were affected by it, led them to share their story publicly and advocate for reform. They founded the RHAvote campaign, the grassro ..read more

Dave and one of his younger sisters were both born with heart defects that required surgery. When Dave was 60, he was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm. By this time, he had a daughter, Dawn Laney, who was a genetic counselor and professor at the Emory School of Medicine. With Dawn’s help, Dave finally arrived at a diagnosis of Cutis Laxa for both himself and his sister. Motivated to help patients receive a diagnosis faster, Dave leveraged his decades long career working with technology in healthcare and Dawn’s expertise in genetic counseling to co-found ThinkGenetic, Inc. and the ThinkGenetic ..read more

Eleanor first interviewed Abigail in 2019 when she was still a second year genetic counseling student. Abigail shared the story of her diagnosis of Wilson Disease and how it led her to a career in genetic counseling. She has now been a genetic counselor for over four years. Second year genetic counseling student Kelsey Crocker interviewed Abigail for the first of the Patient Stories Next Chapter interviews, where we check back in with previous guests on Patient Stories to hear how their stories have continued to unfold. Related Resources Listen to Abigail’s original interview for Patient Stor ..read more

Alexandra Parker is a senior student at Sarah Lawrence College. Alex describes her journey to a diagnosis of Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and the skepticism that she faced from medical professionals. She had to adjust emotionally and physically following her diagnosis with respect to sports. Self-advocacy has become an important part of Alex’s day to day. She discusses the importance of “being believed” in a medical setting and encourages others to seek out different medical professional expertise when needed. Alex was interviewed by guest host Kelsey Crocker, a second year genetic couns ..read more

At 20 weeks of pregnancy, Jill learned that her son Alex had a diaphragmatic hernia. And a ventricular septal defect. An amniocentesis revealed a rare diagnosis of Mosaic Trisomy 5: some of her son’s cells had a typical number of chromosomes (46,XY) and some had an extra copy of chromosome #5. Jill shares a detailed account of her prenatal and neonatal journey, including the diagnosis of additional birth defects and complications and the lack of available information or anticipatory guidance for parents who know they will have a child in the NICU. Alex died when he was 10 months old.  Jil ..read more