ITV Emmerdale couple say it’s ‘ticking clock’ as kids diagnosed with incurable condition
ITV Emmerdale's Laura Norton and Mark Jordon share two children together who have both been diagnosed with an incurable condition.
Emmerdale’s Mark Jordon and Laura Norton are a couple in real life (Image: Instagram)
Emmerdale’s Laura Norton and Mark Jordon’s kids diagnosed with rare genetic condition. The couple, who are known for their roles Kerry Wyatt and Daz Spencer on the ITV soap, explained how the news had impacted their family life.
The illness is called Usher syndrome – that affects both hearing and vision. It causes deafness or hearing loss and an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Sometimes, it also causes problems with balance.
There’s no cure for Usher syndrome, but treatments can help people manage their vision, hearing, and balance problems
Speaking about it, Laura said: “We’re loath to start thinking too hard about what we will have to do in the future – ‘What kind of furniture will we have to move?
“What extra help will they need?’ – until it gets closer to the time because we’ve got about a decade until we need to think about it actively.
The children have both been diagnosed with Usher syndrome (Image: Instagram)
“You make the decision not to preempt it too much because if it’s in our psyche, it becomes in their psyche and at the moment, we just want to enjoy them and have them be fearless.”
Both children have 20:20 vision right now and attend regular ophthalmology appointments. Whatever happens, this relentlessly upbeat couple are optimistic about the future.
“Mark describes it sometimes like a ticking clock, every second counts,” says Laura. “You do hope everything’s going to be OK, but we’ve met so many people with the condition who are absolutely smashing life.
“They’re not people who are debilitated. They live life, have careers and families, and do the same things as everybody else.
“We want other parents in the same position not to worry. There is lots of help and support out there. Our children love life and have lots of friends. They are amazing.”
Laura and Mark first met on the set of Emmerdale in 2014 and started dating back in 2015. After Mark proposed to Laura on New Year’s Day in 2019, the couple went on to welcome their first child, a baby boy called Jesse in January 2021.
It was then in October 2022 when they announced they’d welcomed a baby girl called Ronnie.
