Emmerdale Kerry star ‘in tears’ after two children diagnosed with rare condition
Emmerdale's Laura Norton is engaged to her former co-star Mark Jordan and the couple opened up about the rare genetic condition affecting both of their young children
Laura Norton opened up about her children’s devastating diagnosis.
The actress, 40, recently returned to the role of Kerry Wyatt after heading on maternity leave. She welcomed her second child, a daughter Ronnie, with her ex-Emmerdale star partner Mark Jordon in October 2022.
The couple also share three-year-old son Jesse. Both of their children have been diagnosed with Usher syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects both hearing and vision.
It usually requires children to wear hearing aids for the rest of their lives and potentially causes sight loss in their teenage years. Laura and Mark are both carriers of the gene and unknowingly passed it on to their children.
Speaking to Hello! magazine, Laura admitted she was “in tears” at the thought of something being wrong with her children. “My intuition told me there was a serious problem and I was in tears at the thought of it,” she said.
Laura added: “Knowing that we’d passed this on to our son was heartbreaking. To watch our little boy enjoy the world around him yet know so much will be taken from him, was painful.”
Last year, the couple appeared on Loose Women to raise awareness about the condition. Laura and Mark revealed they were unaware that anything was wrong with Jesse until she fell pregnant with Ronnie.
“It was the new-born screening initially that all babies have and his hearing test came back unclear, we were told it was possibly fluid but it came back later that he had moderate hearing loss,” the ITV star said. Mark added: “You instantly go into defence mode as a parent and we started talking about all the cute hearing aids we could get for him and how we would adapt.”
Laura went on: “When he got his hearing aids they did blood tests – it took a year to come back with the results by which point I was pregnant with Ronnie.” They were told there was a 70% chance that Ronnie would be diagnosed and she later was.
The couple now aim to raise awareness about Usher syndrome and help the families affected. Last year, it was reported the couple had welcomed cameras into their life as they agreed to make a documentary about their children’s condition.