Emmerdale’s Laura Norton and Mark Jordon have opened up on the heartbreaking rare genetic disease affecting both of their children after their lives were turned upside down last year.
The couple, who are well known for their roles as Kerry Wyatt and Daz Spencer on the ITV hit soap, share two children together - two-year-old Jesse and five-month-old Ronnie - who was born in October last year.
Family life has been difficult for the pair after a series of health issues came to light for both their children who have been diagnosed with Usher syndrome.
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Usher syndrome is a rare genetic disease that affects both hearing and vision, requiring both children to wear hearing aids for the rest of their lives and potentially deal with sight loss into their teenage years. Laura admitted that she was left "in tears" as she adjusted to the news.
Appearing on Loose Women today the couple, who met on the set of Emmerdale in 2014, spoke out on the condition as they aim to raise awareness for those affected. Laura explained how Jesse's diagnosis came about, she said: "It was the new-born screening initially that all babies have and his hearing test came back unclear, we were told it was possibly fluid but it came back later that he had moderate hearing loss."
Mark added: "You instantly go into defence mode as a parent and we started talking about all the cute hearing aids we could get for him and how we would adapt." Laura continued: "When he got his hearing aids they did blood tests - it took a year to come back with the results by which point I was pregnant with Ronnie.
"Obviously the first question we asked was whether she could be affected too and we were told she had a 70% chance as we are both carriers of the gene and she did - our two are exactly the same." Mark went on to explain that while he has two older children from his previous relationship with Happy Valley star Siobhan Finneran, he was unaware that he was a carrier, as was Laura.
The doting parents explained that the rare condition affects vision, hearing and balance. Laura said: "Nobody can confirm at what point they will start to lose their vision but it is usually around the teenage years."
Laura and Mark are now channelling their energy into raising awareness of the condition and raising many for the cause to help as many families like theirs as possible. Mark added: "We are glad our children have been born to us and so we can do something about it. My eldest daughter said if we are doing the right thing then they will thank us for it when they are older."
The couple spoke proudly of their children's progress and how well they are doing despite their condition, Mark laughed: "Jesse takes his hearing aids out when I start with the dad jokes!".
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