family connection

One reason we were so blind sided by Ashton's illness is that neither of us had ever heard of it before, and it is genetic... so the chances of us going our whole lives and never knowing someone related to us that had it is very unlikely. Well, while at my parent's house this past weekend the phone rang. The person asked for my dad, and since people often call on the weekend wanting him to come fix something, my mom said he wasn't there... not knowing who it was and not wanting to disrupt a family gathering unless it was an emergency. It was an older man who was a first cousin to my father grandfather... my great grandfather. He died when my died was twelve I beleive. He was apparently very nice, and told my mom that he had heard about her grand-daugher and wanted to tell us that in the 60s he had had a daughter with CF. (My great-aunt later told me it was a grand-daughter... which makes more sense, not sure which one is confused, my aunt or my mom, but that is not the point:) Anyway... she passed away when she was fourteen. They spoke for several minutes about advances that have been made in the treatment. Then they hung up... one mystery solved. Aaron's gene is so mild and so rare, anyone that had it on his side probably never knew... so we won't either. Still, it really doesn't make much difference other than it is interesting... you learn something new everyday I guess:)