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Helen Buckley didn't know until her first child was born that she was a carrier of Fragile X syndrome - the most common inherited cause of learning disabilities.
She had inherited it from her mother and passed it on to Mikie.
Developing new treatments for the syndrome is one of two main projects at a new £14m Medicines Discovery Institute in Cardiff.
Ms Buckley said Mikie was not on any medication but may need it in future.
"When he starts to go out into the big wide world and things start to trouble him, that's when a drug might come in handy for him," she said.
Ms Buckley, 33, from Anglesey, first noticed something wasn't right when Mikie was six months old. The condition was confirmed by a blood test.
She still does not know if she has passed the syndrome on to her second child, Rosie.
"There's nothing out there for Fragile X at the moment... If something can help Mikie live a normal or better life in the future then, yes, please do research it more," she said.
The Medicines Discovery Institute, funded by £11m from Cardiff University and £3m from European money, is aimed at developing novel drugs.
The Fragile X research received almost £2.5m from the Medical Research Council in November.
Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-47651452
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