logo

The Beta-Thalassemia Project

   
Feedback

Genealogy with a Special Reason

 
Feedback Feedback Feedback Feedback Feedback
Home · En Franįais · En Espaņol · En Portuguese · Contact

ABOUT THE BETA-THALASSEMIA PROJECT

PROJECT GOAL

PROJECT PARTNERS

HOW YOU CAN HELP

SEARCH SURNAMES LIST

ARE YOU A CARRIER?

FEATURED ARTICLES

LETTERS

ABOUT STANLEY M. DIAMOND, PROJECT DIRECTOR

 RELATED SITES ABOUT BETA-THALASSEMIA

RELATED SITES ABOUT JEWISH GENEALOGY AND GENETICS

SITE MAP

Search this site

powered by FreeFind

 

Project goal

Although my initial goal in this project was to find other carriers of the specific mutation carried by my family (originally from Ostrow Mazowiecka [Ostrova] in the old Lomza Gubernia of Poland) and a family in Jerusalem (originally from Bobruysk in Belarus) and identify the earliest carriers of this mutation in both families, I also want to alert unsuspecting Ashkenazic carriers outside my family. This is the most urgent aspect, because the beta-thalassemia genetic trait is not usually found unless physicians are looking for it. Carriers are often misdiagnosed as being anemic and are incorrectly prescribed iron. Most carriers in my family learned that they carried the trait later in life, in some cases - long after having grandchildren. This late diagnosis could have been disastrous.

In addition to previously unknown branches of my family which I have found, outreach has turned up six other Diaspora Ashkenazic families carrying the trait. A few already launched programs to alert their extended families about the potential dangers to future generations. These families were found through JewishGen posts and articles in the general and Jewish press and Jewish Genealogical Society newsletters.

On-site research in Poland and the cooperation of the Polish State Archives and key Civil Records Offices enabled me to document more than 50 additional families who may be at risk. With descendants of so many families to be traced and contacted, my task, already immense, has now become virtually unmanageable. I need help from my fellow genealogists, their friends, relatives, and physicians - anyone who might have knowledge of a carrier.

To view a partial genogram of carriers in Stanley M.  Diamond's family, click here.

PREVIOUS | HOME | NEXT

Copyright © 2002 - 2004 by Stanley M. Diamond.
All rights reserved.

Date revised: August 03, 2004