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Wendy’s real CdLS family

Simon and Wendy with their two CdLS children Kevin and Leigh.

One CdLS child can be a handful and a blessing but for Simon Williams and Wendy Hammond they have a double challenge to face as both of their children Leigh and Kevin have the syndrome.

Simon himself was diagnosed with CdLS recently and Wendy contacted the Foundation to get more information about the condition.

Kevin was born in January last year and Leigh in December. Both had problems early on but are now getting much healthier. “It was a bit of a shock early on,” said Wendy, “But they are lovely babies.”

A medical paper is being written by doctors at Great Ormond Street because of the unusual situation of siblings with CdLS, although Foundation doctors have always said that if a person with the syndrome has children there is always a fifty percent chance that the gene will be passed on.

Professor Tom Strachan at Newcastle University is hoping to meet the family as it is possible that there could be clues that lead to identifying the gene that causes the syndrome.

The family, who live in Barnet, Hertfordshire, are hoping to come to a Foundation event in the future to meet other families.