Emmerdale's Laura Norton was heartbroken when she found out her two children have a rare genetic condition.
The soap star is renowned for her role as Kerry Wyatt in the fictional Yorkshire village. Away from the screen, Laura is happily engaged to Mark Jordon, who soap fans will recognise as Daz Spencer in Emmerdale.
They are the proud parents of two children named Jesse and Ronnie. Mark has revealed how both children have been diagnosed with Usher syndrome, a condition that impacts both hearing and vision - as Mirror Online reports.
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He told Hello! Magazine: "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, who was born last October. Usher syndrome is genetic and the two soap star parents were told they were both carriers of the gene which causes the condition.
Laura opened up on her devastation as she said: "My intuition told me there was a serious problem and I was in tears at the thought of it. Knowing that we'd passed this on to our son was heartbreaking." 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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