During the first confused hours after being given the news that I
had FSH, I remembered the specialist saying "inherited - what about parents, aunts/uncles? -
what about sisters/brother? - what about children?" My answers had been "fine" to all. My
children were adopted anyway.
Then I remembered a cousin whom I had not seen or heard of for years (the younger daughter of my fafher's brother) who was diagnosed as having a debilitating muscular disease when she was a WAF in the early 1940s. I was a little girl but my mother's distress at the news made a big impression on me. My aunt became an object of pity, not only because of the
worry of having a handicapped daughter, but because it was believed she had passed it on.
Many years later this cousin's daughter married and as she had the same condition, decided to be sterilised. No-one appeared to have considered that my cousin's son could have inherited the FSH or that it might not have come from my aunt but my uncle, with implications for my own family. My mother would have been devastated had she lived long
enough to learn the truth.
My aunt died, and then my mother, and with them the source of family news. Now, however I
felt compelled to get in touch though it took weeks before I was able to do so for I knew that confirmation of the name of her conditon would mean I realy did have FSH too, and the little flickering hope that the specialist could be wrong (as I was still awaiting tests) woud be in vain. Eventually I rang my eldest cousin who confirmed that her sister,
neice and nephew had FSH and that the nephew's middle son had been affected since early
childhood.
We discused whether it could have been handed dawn by our grandfather, George Pearson who died in his fifties "as a result of drink" or his wife, our grandmother Ada Broadhurst,
Who led an active life and was a dedicated gardener until her mid eighties. My father and his brother lived into their seventies, leading normal lives and enjoying their golf.
I was intrigued, and havng just received my first copy of "TARGET md" decided to put an
advertisement in under "Contacts wanted" as follows:
"Barbara, recently diagnosed FSH in middle age, finding a cousin and family with same condition, seeks BROADHURSTS or PEARSONS (probably originating Cheshire) who have similar experience. Would be interested to find familiy history."
I did not consider that there was more than a remote chance of hearing from anyone. My cousin's family preferred to ignore the condition and I realised that there might be more people out there who felt the same and therefore would not see the magazine.
Imagine my astonishment and delight when the answer to my guery arrived within days of
publication in the form of a christmas card from Stan Morgan of Skelmersdale Lancershire. His mother was one of a family of eight Broadhursts, four of whom
had proven FSH in a mild form and two of whom passed it down to their decendents, including Stan who had been diagnosed whilst doing his National Service.
We have now spoken many times on the phone, letters have passed to and fro and we met for an
enioyable lunch earier this year.
Commencing with a little informaton given in the past by my mother I started investigating
my family history and discovered that my great, great grandfather William, was born about 1779 in Great Sankey, Warrington, Lancashire. Stan's grandfather, charles, was born about 1872 In Liverpool and as it is known that a branhn of the Great Sankey Broadhursts moved to Liverpool at some stage in the past, it must be that there was a family connection in
Great Sankey in the 18th Century and that this gene was around before 1779 when William was born. Therefore the relationship between Stan and myself must be very distant but it is chilling to realise how powerful the FSH gene is.
It is known that there were Broadhursts in the Great Sankey area from 1729 or earlier, though I have not yet been able to connect William with a particular family.
Famliy branches spread out from there not only locally and through the
British Isles, but all over the world, and we must assume that FSH will have spread with them travelling also under many different surnames, through all the female lines.
However the source of most of my family information, a Broadhurst living in Warrington researching the distant past family history for an author in Hawaii, had not come across mention of it previously.
In my immediate family line daughters married a Hepherd (maybe Shepherd) a Hollingsworth and a Sixsmith. I have not yet followed up the other descendents of the ten
children of my great, great, great grandparents or the eight children of my great, great grandparents.
Whether we will ever discover more about the past history of FSH in our family is unlikely, but Stan and I will not rest until we find the connection between our branches. However this
quest has became increasingly compelling as we are discovering a family saga far more fascinating than any novel or biography because it is ours!
Elspeth B Taylor
A Kettlethorpe couple whose teenage daughter has contracted a rare form of muscular
dystrophy are planning a sponsored walk to raise money for a national support group.
At our Conference last October it was agreed that we should use these funds to produce pin badges of the Group's logo and that we should sell these for £l.00 each, to raise further funds for research into FSH-MD.