Siblings raising awareness about deadly blood condition
A brother and sister with strong County Wexford connections are raising awareness about a potentially fatal blood condition that people may not know they have.
Jim and Moira Jackman, whose father James’s family hail from St Mullins and Dunmain, were diagnosed with Haemochromatososis last year.
Jim, 60, Jim viisted his GP as he was concerned for some months over blood tests that were coming back high.
Jim said: ‘For five years, I had been on medication for gout, pseudo gout, high cholesterol and eventually rheumatoid arthritis. Routinely over the years, because of high levels of medication, the blood screening was an important part of my treatment. My GP asked for my iron levels to be checked and as a result, my feretin (iron) levels came back screaming high. When I discovered I had the condition it blew my mind.’
Normal Fe levels in a man range 30 to 300, whereas Jim’s were reaching 1400. ‘My GP suspected Haemochromatosis and the only way he could be sure was by getting a genetic test done.’
After a four month wait, Jim’s genetic test result came back positive. ‘I had inherited a faulty gene from both my parents and was intermediately diagnosed with full blown Haemochromatosis. Considering I was a blood donor with over 169 donations, I would have thought that such a blood disorder would have been diagnosed earlier on in my life. To add insult to injury, the Blood Transfusion Board now refused to take my blood because there was to much iron in it.’
Jim told his brothers and sister Moira to get ther blood checked for iron levels and Moira’s results came back at a level of 1400.
Moira, 55, who is a CE supervisor in Horewood, said: ‘I had been tired and had a lot of aches and pains. I went to my doctor to get assessed for Haemochromatosis and he came back and said my readings were high.’
She was referred to Dr Colm Quigley in Wexford General Hospital who diagnosed her with Haemochromotasosis. ‘I had bloods taken every week for a while and it nearly killed me as my haemoglobin dropped so low.’
Moira’s medical team aimed to get her levels down to 50 from a base of 1400 to allow leeway for iron build up in her blood. ‘I went down but then it went back up to 1000 at Christmas as I hadn’t given blood. I have a busy job but thankfully I am doing much better now.’
The treatment for the condition is plebotomy or in everyday language having a pint of blood removed every week until the fe levels in the body restore to normal.
‘After that, one is in maintenance. Your Fe levels are monitored routinely and blood is removed to restore normal Fe Jim believes his father and grandfather, who both died in their late fifties, had the condition. ‘My father suffered from terrible abdomen pains all his adult life. He was only 58 when he died in 1982, after having two major operations in the space of four days on his stomach. The Haemochromatosis genetic component was only discovered in 1996. He always had a high colour and I believe now that he had undiagnosed Haemochromatosis. His father died in 1950, aged only 57, with heart muscle issues which were certified and I believe Haemochromatosis was an issue in his early demise.’
Since he discovered that he has Haemochromatosis he has been highlighting it in various media platforms. ‘We are the lucky ones, we know we have it and it is very treatable.’
Jim spent 32 years working in RTE and is a former President of National Parents Council.
He has donated more than 170 litres of blood over his life and has issued a warning to people to get blood tests as a way to detect if they have theirs.
‘I truly believe giving so much blood has saved my life. They called Haemochromatosis the iceberg disorder as the synptoms are only the tip of the iceberg. I would urge people to get checked.’ PATRICK Mooney with an address at 25 Fairfields, Adamstown apologised to the District Court for parking in a ‘disabled’ bay without the necessary permit.
The offence dated back to November of 2016 when the car was spotted by a garda in Enniscorthy’s Weafer Street.
A fine of €150 was imposed by Judge Gerard Haughton, with five months allowed for payment.