{"id":108807,"date":"2025-05-17T10:41:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T10:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/108807\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T10:41:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T10:41:16","slug":"ellie-simmonds-reveals-how-she-agonises-whether-to-have-children-as-she-fears-passing-on-the-genes-that-gave-her-dwarfism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/108807\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellie Simmonds reveals how she agonises whether to have children – as she fears passing on the genes that gave her dwarfism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ellie Simmonds\u00a0has taken on the agonising decision about whether or not she should have children – exploring the complications of passing on a fatal version of dwarfism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The five-time Paralympic gold medallist,\u00a0will look at why she might have to genetically engineer a foetus in her latest project for ITV<\/a> called Ellie Simmonds: Should I have children?<\/p>\n

The OBE and MBE will also consider the issues facing parents who are told their children will be born with disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Simmonds, 30, has the least impaired version of achondroplasia (the official name for dwarfism) and her life has certainly been one of vast achievement.<\/p>\n

From winning two golds aged 13 at the 2008\u00a0Beijing<\/a> Games, appearing on Strictly<\/a> Come Dancing in 2022, and becoming a sports pundit, her disability hasn’t held her back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But her dwarfism is relevant to any future decisions when it comes to starting a family because, as she says,\u00a0‘I already know that gene changes led to my dwarfism and if I started a family, there would be a chance that I’d pass it on.’<\/p>\n

‘There could be complications with the spine, bowing of the legs, which can lead to reduced walking,’ she explained to The Times<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the past six months, Ms Simmonds has visited a clinical geneticist who specialises in achondroplasia.<\/p>\n

\"From <\/p>\n

From winning two golds aged 13 at the 2008 Beijing Games, appearing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2022 and becoming a sports pundit, Ellie Simmonds’ disability hasn’t held her back<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The five-time Paralympic gold medallist, will look at why she might have to genetically engineer a foetus in her latest project for ITV called Ellie Simmonds: Should I have children?<\/p>\n

\"In <\/p>\n

In her latest project, the OBE and MBE will consider the issues facing parents who are told their children will be born with disabilities<\/p>\n

The geneticist, Dr Melita Irving, advises on pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT), a technique that identifies genetic defects in embryos before they are transferred to the uterus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parents who choose to use PGT must commit to only a ‘normal’ embryo being placed back in the uterus.<\/p>\n

That means if a couple with dwarfism chose to do this, their baby would not have dwarfism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Simmonds is currently single, living alone in her north London flat after breaking up with Matt Dean, who also had achondroplasia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She has done a fertility test, which showed it is good and in the documentary confesses that she is unsure about whether or not to have children.<\/p>\n

Like most women in their thirties, she considers whether she will freeze her eggs, be a mother or even adopt, just as she was adopted by a loving family near Walsall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘My indecision is more about being a woman than about my disability,’ she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Simmonds were to parent with an average-sized partner, their baby would have a 50 per cent chance of having achondroplasia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Her <\/p>\n

Her birth mother, who was badly served by post-natal care, gave Ms Simmonds to her adoptive parents at just 10 days old in Aldridge near Walsall<\/p>\n

\"During <\/p>\n

During her stint on Strictly Come Dancing she wanted to inspire others, aiming to give more representation to the dwarfism community<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms Simmonds, 30, has the least impaired version of achondroplasia (the official name for dwarfism) and her life has certainly been one of vast achievement<\/p>\n

But if her partner also had achondroplasia. There would be a 25 per cent chance of an average-sized child<\/p>\n

There would then be a 50 per cent\u00a0chance (the same odds as with an average-sized partner) of what is medically referred to as ‘single dose dwarfism’, which Ms Simmonds has.<\/p>\n

And a 25 per cent chance of ‘double dose dwarfism’, from which foetuses or babies do not develop or survive.<\/p>\n

For someone that is so proud to be a part of the disabled community, the decision to undertake PGT to prevent the\u00a0possibly devastating outcome of ‘double dose’ dwarfism is an impossible dilemma.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘It would depend if [the father] was an individual with dwarfism or a non-disabled person,’ she said.<\/p>\n

‘I’d never heard of PGT before now. But now I feel educated. I know it’s there for me [if I want it] and to prevent the trauma of a double dose.’<\/p>\n

In 2023, Ms Simmonds released a documentary where she tracked down her birth mother – it was so powerful the film won a Bafta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her birth mother, who was badly served by post-natal care, gave Ms Simmonds to her adoptive parents at just 10 days old in Aldridge near Walsall.<\/p>\n

\"In <\/p>\n

In 2023, Ms Simmonds released a documentary where she tracked down her birth mother – it was so powerful the film won a Bafta<\/p>\n

\"During <\/p>\n

During her stint on Strictly Come Dancing, the athlete praised her partner Nikita for helping to dispel myths that dance isn’t for everyone<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms Simmonds is a powerful advocate for disability rights, who is entering her thirties as a powerful woman\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Simmonds has now built a relationship with her birth mother and is a powerful advocate for disability rights, who is entering her thirties as a powerful woman.<\/p>\n

During her stint on Strictly Come Dancing she wanted to inspire others, aiming to give more representation to the dwarfism community<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time, the athlete praised her partner\u00a0Nikita for helping to dispel myths that dance isn’t for everyone.<\/p>\n

And for ‘changing lives’ of viewers with disabilities who may have believed that they couldn’t dance.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ellie Simmonds\u00a0has taken on the agonising decision about whether or not she should have children – exploring the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[92,267,208,257,9142,12,70,1888,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-108807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-genetics","10":"tag-itv","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-new-york-times","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-strictly-come-dancing","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114522756946897046","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}