A Growing Problem Forgotten in this Crisis: A Genonto Story: My Child is Hurt

HOUSTON - May 7, 2020 - PRLog -- Every parent's nightmare is to get the call that your child has been injured. Rushing to the hospital to meet the ambulance that transported your loved one, your frantic thoughts swirl: "Is she ok?" "How badly is she hurt?"

At the emergency room face-to-face with your child wincing in pain, all you want for her is relief. After an exam, the doctor prescribes an opioid pain reliever and without question, you hurry to fill it.

Eighteen months later, you receive another call. This time your stomach churns with dread as you speed through the darkened streets toward another hospital and your daughter, who has overdosed, again.

Walking together toward the wing where your daughter is being kept overnight for observation, you listen numbly as the doctor describes your daughter's close call.  Her roommate found her unconscious and called 911. The first responders administered naloxone, a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose, which probably saved your daughter's life. Mingled tears of relief and anger spill over as you enter your daughter's room and your eyes light on your daughter's prematurely weathered face, finally peaceful in sleep.

The past year has been an emotional roller coaster for your family. Your daughter, an honor student-athlete at university became dependent on prescription pain pills after her injury, and when she couldn't get any more, impossibly, she started using heroin. Denial and disbelief became embarrassment and paralyzing fear, then hopelessness - "How could this happen in our family? Who can I turn to for help? And, how can I prevent something similar from happening to my younger son?"

Your attention is suddenly caught by something the doctor is saying; "Based on your family history, with your grandfather being an alcoholic, you and your children are more susceptible to abusing substances. This predisposition may have made your daughter more vulnerable to becoming dependent on the narcotic medication she was prescribed. From there, it's not uncommon for us to see young people jumping to heroin use like your daughter did."

With rising anxiety, your fingers wring the doctor's sleeve: "If only I had known this earlier! I could have warned my daughter's health care providers." "How can I protect my son and minimize the chances of him abusing substances or becoming dependent on them?"

Gently freeing his arm, the doctor said, "Genetic testing can confirm this predisposition. I recommend Genonto because they are the only company that does Whole Exome Sequencing to reveal the presence of genes that are linked to a predisposition for dependencies. Genonto helps parents protect their children. By having their children gene-tested, parents may intervene before a child is exposed to medication that may activate the predisposition to dependencies."

For more information, please contact: BobM@genonto.com

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Genonto is the leader in genetic sequencing to detect genes linked to opioid dependency and other dependence diseases. The mobile platform uses a proprietary methodology to examine the whole exome (WES) for detecting the presence of those genes which indicate a person is at risk for developing dependencies with the goal of preventative strategies.