After appearing on the reality TV show “The Undateables,” a man with a rare genetic disorder is now married to the woman of his dreams and hoping to expand their family very soon.
33-year-old Steve Carruthers was born with Crouzon syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes the bones in the skull to fuse prematurely.
Carruthers’ mother also suffered from the life-altering condition and three of his siblings passed away from it.
According to Cosmopolitan, Carruthers recently married the love of his life, Vicki Matthews, after being on the British reality show “The Undateables.”
This year, the couple hopes to start building their family, despite the risks involved in passing on the genetic disorder.
“We have spoken about having kids”, Carruthers explained on the British morning show, Lorraine. “It is something we both want, in fact she wants 10!”
After the interview, many critics have taken to social media, slamming Carruthers and Matthews for even considering children, knowing that they could inherit the serious disorder.
“I don’t care if my child has Crouzon or Downs Syndrome or any syndrome,” Carruthers said. “We want to bring a life into this world and make our child feel happy, not ashamed, about who they are.”
As The Daily Mail reports, any children that Carruthers fathers have about a 50 percent chance of being born with Crouzon syndrome.
For his wife, however, that’s a big risk that she’s willing to take to start a family with the man she loves.
While speaking with the Guardian, Matthews revealed that she doesn’t plan on undergoing genetic testing whenever she becomes pregnant.
“There’s no point,” she said. “Anything could happen, a child could be born with any syndrome and this would just make us worry more.”
