Emmerdale star Laura Norton faces ‘ticking time bomb’ over children’s condition ‘no one’s heard of’
The actress and her former Emmerdale star husband are looking for a cure after both their children were diagnosed with the same syndrome
Laura Norton has played the role of Kerry Wyatt since 2012(Image: ITV)
Emmerdale star Laura Norton opened up about her children’s rare genetic condition, Usher syndrome, that she labelled as a “ticking time bomb”.
Laura joined the ITV soap in 2012 as Kerry Wyatt, and has recently become involved in the latest “whodunnit” that saw Joe Tate pushed out of a window at Home Farm.
Outside of the soap, Laura met her now fiancé Mark Jordon on the set of Emmerdale back in 2015, with the couple starting to date shortly after. Mark also starred on Emmerdale in the role of Daz Spencer before he left in 2019.
The couple share two children together, their son Jesse and daughter Ronnie. At the time of Ronnie’s birth, Laura wrote: “She’s here!!!! We’ve baked another belta. This little superstar joined us on Mon 17th October. She’s d.e.a.d clever and a tiny little bundle of joy and beauty.”
Unfortunately, the pair have revealed that both of their children suffer from the same condition, Usher syndrome, which causes impairments to hearing and vision.
This means that those diagnosed will wear hearing aids for their whole life, as well as suffering from sight loss at a later point.
Both of Laura and Mark’s children have the rare genetic condition(Image: Laura Norton on Instagram)
Speaking to the Mirror, the actress shared: “[Vision loss] tends to be teenage years – around 15. So we’ve got this ticking time bomb.
“Mark and I are just doing as much fundraising and awareness as we can. The challenges we’ll meet is when their vision starts to be affected. I’ve been a carrier and never knew, and Mark was a carrier and never knew. We were told there was a 75 per cent chance our children wouldn’t inherit it.
“They asked if I wanted to find out about the risks of Ronnie having the condition while I was pregnant, but I was like, ‘No,’ because it won’t make any difference. She’s coming no matter what.
“I knew in my heart that she’d have Usher syndrome like Jesse, but there is that small consolation that they have each other. They will never feel alone, and I am so grateful for that.”
Both Laura and Mark are patrons of the Cure Usher charity and are currently working with genetic eye diseases expert and University College London (UCL) Professor Mariya Moosajee.
The actress commented that Mariya thinks she is “10 years away from finding a cure”, and added: “The science is there, the talent is there, but the funding isn’t because it’s a rare condition and no one’s heard of it.
“Mariya’s not getting the funding, but she thinks she’s 10 years away from finding a cure.”
