Real life TV star couple Laura Norton and Mark Jordan have opened up about a rare health condition that is affecting both of their children.
Laura, who plays Kerry Wyatt in the ITV soap and her partner Mark Jordon, who is best known for portraying PC Phil Bellamy in Heartbeat, shared with fans that both of their young children have been diagnosed with a rare condition.
The engaged couple welcomed their second child, baby daughter Ronnie, in October 2022 and share an older son, two-year-old Jesse.
Laura and Mark have been hit by a heartbreaking health condition as both their young children have been diagnosed with Usher syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects both hearing and vision.
In a recent interview with Hello! Magazine, the couple decided to speak out as Mark shared: "We've agonised about doing this before we've even told our children about their condition... we're going to write them a letter to explain why we did this and show then when they're old enough to understand."
The couple were first concerned about their son's health when he failed standard hearing tests but they didn't learn that it was Usher Syndrome until they were expecting their second child Ronnie.
Laura and Mark, who met when the latter briefly joined Emmerdale as Daz Spencer, were told they were both carriers of the gene which causes Usher Syndrome.
"Knowing that we'd passed this on to our son was heartbreaking," Laura, who has been told her son and daughter will suffer night blindness in their teens, before peripheral vision loss and tunnel vision.
She added: "To watch our little boy enjoy the world around him yet know so much will be taken from him, was painful."
Jesse now wears a hearing aid and the couple are looking to raise awareness and help other parents with children who have been diagnosed with the condition.
Mark will be lobbying MPs in Parliament this week about raising awareness of Usher syndrome and campaign for funding.
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