Emmerdale actors Laura Norton and Mark Jordon, who are engaged in real life, have revealed that both of their young children suffer from the same rare genetic condition.
Laura, 39, and Mark, 58, are parents to a two year old son, Jesse, and four month old daughter, Ronnie, who was born in October 2022.
Unfortunately, parenthood hasn't come without its difficulties for Laura, who plays Kerry Wyatt, and Mark, who played Daz Spencer in Emmerdale, as both of their children have faced health issues.
The couple has revealed both Jesse and Ronnie have been diagnosed with Usher syndrome, which causes impairments to hearing and vision, meaning those affected will need hearing aids for the rest of their lives and can suffer from sight loss later on.
They said that they first had concerns that something was wrong with Jessie shortly after his birth in 2021, after he failed standard hearing tests.
They didn't find out he has Usher Syndrome until Laura was pregnant with Ronnie, and tests confirmed that both of the little ones carried the same rare gene that causes the condition.
Speaking to HELLO!, Laura said of her concerns about Jesse: "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."
Laura's fiancé Mark said of their decision to go public with their children's diagnosis: "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 told that their children will suffer might blindness in their teens, before peripheral vision loss and tunnel vision.
Laura said: "To watch our little boy enjoy the world around him yet know so much will be taken from him, was painful."
Little Jesse now wears a hearing aid and, despite the news about their children's diagnosis' leaving Laura "in tears" she said that she's glad her kids will have each other to lean on as they learn to live with their conditions.
Mark and Laura are committed to raising awareness of Usher Syndrome, and Mark is going to parliament this week to lobby MPs about raising awareness of Usher syndrome and campaign for funding.
Laura and Mark met on the set of ITV soap Emmerdale in 2014, where they formed a strong friendship that later turned romantic.
The pair announced their engagement in 2019, with Mark calling his new fiancée "the most beautiful woman in the world."
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