A Family Tradition
— Carlos Briceño

A Family Tradition
Carlos Briceño is a journalist and director of communications who, through the grace of God, has been blessed with a brilliant, beautiful, and courageous wife and daughter. He currently lives in Maryland, about a half hour away from Washington, D.C., with his wife, Jill. In 2018, Jill found out she was gene-positive for Huntington’s disease at the age of 41, while his daughter found out she was gene-positive for HD in 2019 when she was 22. Jill and Carlos write about their day-to-day struggles and triumphs to share their knowledge and to let others know they are not alone. Carlos loves to evangelize, read, play soccer, and pepper his conversations with — according to family members —really bad puns. (For the record, Carlos thinks his puns are really punny and funderful.)

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My wife’s quick reflexes offer an important lesson

Last month, I walked into our kitchen to find what looked like a crime scene. Blood drops dotted the counter, and my wife, Jill, stood at the sink with bandages wrapped around several fingers, laughing as she rinsed off our newly sharpened knives. My heart sank. My first thought wasn’t…

Carlos Briceno

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Feeling grateful despite the challenges of Huntington’s disease

As I type this, my heart swells with emotion. My family’s journey isn’t the easiest, but we savor it because we’re grateful for every precious second we spend together. My wife, Jill, battles Huntington’s disease (HD) with great resiliency and courage, but it’s obvious that the condition has…

Columns

DNA and the alphabet soup that causes Huntington’s disease

After my wife, Jill, started experiencing symptoms that led her to suspect she had inherited the faulty gene that causes Huntington’s disease (HD), she decided to find out for certain. When she told me she wanted to have her DNA tested for HD, my first question…

Columns

Just because you have HD doesn’t mean HD causes everything

My wife, Jill, recently discovered that what she’d thought was a symptom of her Huntington’s disease (HD) was really something else. It reminded us that just because she has a rare, terminal illness doesn’t mean it’s the cause of every medical issue. I began to realize this…

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Finding a therapist is easier when you know what works best for you

Talk therapy is great, but finding someone who understands you and meets your needs is the key to its success. When my wife, Jill, was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease (HD) in 2018, the doctor recommended that she see a therapist. While Jill had nothing against seeing someone for…

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Standing up for myself is part of being prepared for HD progression

My wife, Jill, and I were recently talking about an encounter I had. As sometimes happens, a result of the conversation with Jill was a lesson that developed over the next few days about Jill’s terminal illness. The conversation centered on feeling belittled in my work as a…

Columns

Making promises has new meaning for my gene-positive wife

I’ve learned a lot from my wife, Jill, who is gene-positive for Huntington’s disease (HD), about the importance of the phrase “I promise.” In the past, I often made promises without considering what they meant to others. As a child, I’d say, “I promise I’ll clean my room,”…

Columns

Confronting a family tradition that never goes away

In the summer of 2022, my wife, Jill, and I attended an eye-opening event that made me understand exactly what Huntington’s disease (HD) does to a loved one. It was a family reunion hosted by Jill’s paternal relatives. Her father had HD, as do multiple people on his…

Columns

Learning to live in the present includes actually doing it

When my wife, Jill, was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease (HD) in 2018, I thought I had already learned the lesson about appreciating loved ones while they are alive. Almost 20 years ago, my eldest sister, Nancy, died of cancer. Then, in the past 13 years, my father, mother, and…


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