People express the importance of getting tested for various illnesses for a reason, and TikTok user MacKenzie Dias (@mackattackd) is a perfect example of how you might be living with something you didn’t even know you had.
MacKenzie shared the story of how she got diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, and it all started when she and her husband started having discussions about having children.
Sadly, both of MacKenzie’s sisters died from a genetic disease, which made her want to get genetic testing with her husband to make sure that if she had kids, they wouldn’t be born with any illnesses.
MacKenzie was aware she had the gene, but knew that if her husband had it too, their child would have a high chance of having cystic fibrosis.
While she respects anyone who wishes to bring a child into the world anyway, her experience with it, emotionally and financially, impacted her family, making her not want to.
MacKenzie encourages everyone to get genetic testing if possible before getting pregnant, especially after the results she received.
While on vacation, MacKenzie’s husband received his results, prompting her to check her email for her own. While her husband didn’t have the gene, she got an email telling her to call the office.
“It pretty much ruined my vacation, cause now I’m panicked, cause, like, what do you mean?” MacKenzie explained.
After the vacation, MacKenzie called the office, and they opened the results together, revealing that she was positive for cystic fibrosis.
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“I had two gene mutations and actually have an atypical cystic fibrosis,” MacKenzie explained.
MacKenzie was shocked because she was 30 when she found out, and she’d lived her whole life thinking her sisters had the disease but not her. But the doctor explained that it’s possible she got two gene mutations from her mother.
If that were the case, then she wouldn’t have had it because it had to come from both parents. She decided to reach out to her father, who had left the family when she was 16, and ask him to get tested.
“I knew one of the genes [was] from my mom, because her niece got tested before she had a baby, and she has one of those genes, so I know it’s in that side of the family,” MacKenzie explained.
When her father did get tested, it turned out he had the gene, confirming that MacKenzie has cystic fibrosis.
According to MacKenzie, doctors don’t test for every mutation at birth, which is why she didn’t know she had it. However, they believe the worst gene is from her father, and that her mother has two genes, and she got the less extreme one, while her sisters got the worst one from their dad.
“I don’t know how it’s gonna turn out for me,” MacKenzie confessed. “I’m fine now. I’ve had no issues. I definitely had breathing problems when I was younger, but I don’t know if it was just asthma.”
Doctors said this specific mutation sometimes causes people to get sick when they’re older instead of as children, as her sisters did.
“Knock on wood that that does not happen,” she added.
Commenters had a lot to say about MacKenzie’s story, with many understanding her choice not to bring a child into the world if it would only get sick.
“As a chronically ill person, I can’t stand when people have kids knowing they will pass it down. I can’t watch my kids suffer,” one commenter wrote.
Another suggested that genetic testing should be required before having children, while someone else chimed in saying that in Saudi Arabia, where they’re from, genetic testing is required.
By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
