For Jennifer Sheahan from Murrieta, Calif., getting a positive diagnosis for her young daughter was an exercise in patience. Both Sheahan's mother and her husband's uncle were diagnosed with hemochromatosis and her mother senses immediately went into overdrive.

"I began to research it on the Internet because it seemed strange to me that I had never heard of hemochromatosis before, and then within two months we had relatives on both sides with it," says Shehan. "I realized that it was a genetic disorder and then I knew that I wanted my children's iron levels tested."

Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is a little known condition also known as iron overload disease. People with HH have an abnormal iron metabolism that permits absorption of too much iron from an ordinary diet. Most people who develop HH do not know they are storing dangerously high levels of iron until the symptoms become almost debilitating.

Sheahans' daughter underwent several tests that showed a slightly elevated iron level. Sheahan wanted more information and tests for her daughters, but the lack of knowledge she found within the medical community appalled her. "The previous doctors kept telling me to be happy, that most kids coming through their door were anemic and that having too much iron is a good thing, not bad," says Sheahan. "I have to give pause at that statement now. If these pediatricians only realized how detrimental excess iron can be."

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