Turner Sports sideline reporter Allie LaForce has been open and candid about her journey to have a baby, using social media to document the highs and the lows—including a miscarriage.
“I just didn’t feel right not sharing because I don’t want women to think that something’s wrong with them when there’s nothing wrong with them. We’re all going through our own personal journey. We all have struggles,” LaForce told CBS News’ Dana Jacobson.
The struggle for LaForce and her husband, MLB pitcher Joe Smith, has been to have a baby born without Huntington’s disease—a genetic condition that causes the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain.
In the U.S., there are about 41,000 people living with the disease and more than 200,000 at risk. Smith lost his grandmother and his mother to the disease.
“Once you live with someone that’s had it or somebody in your family has it and you understand, like, how just devastating this is, like, you just watch people deteriorate within a couple years, like, right in front of your face and turn into people and do things that is not them,” Smith said.
There is no cure for Huntington’s Disease and kids of parents with the disease have a 50% chance of getting it.
Smith said he decided not to test for the gene that causes Huntington’s disease. “It’s tough. It’s, like, there’s no treatment. There’s no cure. Like, what am I gonna do?” he said.
One thing within their power is having an HD-free baby through an IVF procedure that implants embryos that test negative for that HD gene. In March, the couple found out they were expecting a child after years of trying.
“Not a single family should be held back from preventing their child from having Huntington’s disease or even going through fertility treatments because money stands in the way. So that gave me all the, I guess, confidence and fulfillment I needed in making the decision to put all of our efforts towards IVF for families,” LaForce said.
It’s the heart behind their foundation HelpCure HD, a nonprofit that helps pay for families to go through the IVF process. The procedure can cost up to $40,000.
“It’s not just that your kids don’t have Huntington’s. Their kids will never have Huntington’s. You’re eliminating it from an entire family line forever which is eradicating a disease one family at a time,” LaForce said.
In just four years, HelpCure HD has helped 16 families have HD free babies—including Tracey and Anthony D’Alonzo’s. After having two kids naturally, Tracey tested positive for HD.
“It feels like a little bit of a cloud over you all the time because you never know when something’s gonna hit. The average age is 30 to 50 for symptoms. And I’m 33,” Tracey said.
In 2020, HelpCure HD covered the $20,000 cost for Tracey and Anthony to have Josiah.
“He doesn’t know it. But he’s not going to have that worry in his life. He might have it for his family, but not for himself, and not for his future family,” Tracey said.
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