Hello,

 

I'm wondering how genetics fall into play from the grandparents and great grandparents when having children? For example, my partner has a very sick family (sister has dead kidneys, father has parkinsons disease, mother has arthiritis, grandparents on both sides died from cancer along with the great-grandparents). My partner has nothing and I don't have any issues on my side. If I have children with my partner, will any of these diseases or problems be passed on from my partners side of the family? Should I be worried?

 

Thank You

I'm not sure how much detail to go into, but the short answer is that yes, you have about a quarter of the genes of each grandparent. And yes, you can still carry a gene without it being expressed, if you don't get it from both parents (genes come in pairs, and you get one half of every pair from each parent), and that can be passed on. (This is called a recessive gene.) The flip side of this is that it if you don't carry the gene, it can't be expressed in your children either, since it has to come from both parents. It just has a 50% chance of either being present and not expressed (if your partner passes on the recessive gene), or absent entirely, if your partner passes on the other half of the pair.

Look into genetic counseling. They should be able to do tests and determine risk factors.