Hi Everyone, Some of our family moved from Ohio to Michigan in the 19th century. One of them was my gg aunt, Mary Jane DAGUE MEAD, born May 6, 1858 who married Orland E. MEAD, born May 1857. One of their children, Lula MEAD married Dr. Fred J. ROOT. I don't know the names of all of these relatives, because maternal names are often lost in families. Also, I know that a more distant branch of the DAGUE (DAGE, DEG, DEEGEN) family also moved to this area of Michigan from PA and W.VA. I am writing to ask if any of you know of a hereditary blood disorder in your family called Hereditary Sphereocytosis. My hematologist said that 50% of my relatives probably have this disorder because it is autosomal dominant. Sometimes this disease can be silent, as it had been in my family until my mother's cousin died of it (probably of a ruptured spleen) and her son and I were diagnosed with it and had spleenectomies. Sometimes Hereditary Sphererocytosis is so subtle, it can't be seen on a regular red-blood count smear. Apparently a regular RBC smear doesn't pick it up in our in our family, but a hematologist will know what to do to be sure. My hematologist said that he recently had a patient in his seventies who had no idea that he had this blood disorder until tests picked it up. Because even those who have the more serious form of the disease can have subtle symptoms, it can be dangerous if someone has it and doesn't know it. Hereditary Sphereocytosis is characterized by small, fragile, sphere-shaped red corpuscles and most people afflicted with it are of northwestern European descent. Sometimes anemia and jaundice are obvious with this disease, but sometimes, those symptoms are subtle, even in those who have the more serious form of the disease. This has been the case in our family. I would be grateful to hear from anyone who might have this disease in their families. One reason is that my hematologist has found some mysteries associated with my form of Hereditary Sphererocytosis that I would like to compare with others who may have some of the same difficulties. Another is this could be a great way to find cousins who have so far been lost because maternal names change and we lose track of family lines. This is a relatively rare disease, so it may be a good first step in finding cousins. My family was originally from Pennsylvania before they pioneered Ohio. Cathy Martin ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.