Is a child with a autosomal recessive disease for sure going to be bad off?

Depends on the dz: This all depends on which disease the child has. Some autosomal recessive diseases can be relatively innocuous (e.g., mcardle's syndrome), whereas others can be quite serious (e.g., cystic fibrosis). The classification of "autosomal recessive" describes how the disease is inherited; it does not define the characteristics of the disease itself.