Martha
I went to my fav search engine, typed in Waardenburg Syndrome and got 2710 responses. One said this: "Waarenburg Syndrome usually affects the body in 3 ways: hearing, coloring, and facial structure." "People with WS have a certain look noticeable to the trained eye but not to the average onlooker. The eyes tend to be widely spaced and the bridge of the nose is flatter and wider than usual. They tend to have monobrows, They also commonly have a cleft lip or palate, and colon problems. Otherwise, people with Waardenburg Syndrome have no real medical difficulties. They are expected to live a normal lifespan." It definitely sounds genetic: "Waardenburg’s Syndrome is caused by a defective paired box homeotic gene-3. It occurs about 1 or 2 times in 20,000. WS in inherited in a dominant fashion. Researchers typically see families with several generations who have inherited one or more of the features. The chance of “carriers” passing on the gene to their children is 50%, regardless of the features they possess"