A Family Tradition
— Carlos Briceño

I’m not what one would call a clean freak. I’m messy and always have been. Sometimes my mind goes so fast that I’ll put things down and forget where. I don’t mind my world being somewhat chaotic; in fact, I don’t really notice it until it’s so bad I…

In 2018, my wife, Jill, was diagnosed as gene-positive for Huntington’s disease (HD). In the months leading up to her diagnosis, she’d begun experiencing depression and anxiety, as well as other HD symptoms, which started her down the long road of finding helpful medications. At…

In a recent column, I shared that I was battling a serious infection, which led to a four-day hospital stay. My main concern was about my wife, Jill, who is gene-positive for Huntington’s disease (HD), and how frustrating it was for me to be sick when it’s…

“Do you ever feel like Huntington’s disease [HD] is the villain in the movie of our lives?” my wife, Jill, asked me recently. My wife and I live in a neighborhood with many trees and little light. As I arrived home after work one day last month, darkness greeted…

I am sitting up in a hospital bed, trying to write this week’s column. I have an IV in my left arm that is attached to a bag full of antibiotics and steroids. As I start to bring my hand to where the needle is held in place by medical…

The other day, I heard what every husband wants to hear from his wife: “Honey, I love you, but you’re being ridiculous.” The day had started off uneventfully. It was a Saturday morning, and I woke up early to watch a soccer game on TV. The earlier the better, since…

My marriage has always been a partnership. I have strengths where my wife, Jill, has weaknesses, and vice versa — until Huntington’s disease (HD) started affecting her mental state and abilities, that is. Jill, who was diagnosed with HD in 2018, likes to say that the…

As John Lennon once sang, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Well, life happened — again. At the end of February, my wife, Jill, and I had planned to go to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to lobby several congressmen as part…

Over the past year, Huntington’s disease has begun to affect my gene-positive wife, Jill, in various ways. Anyone who’s met Jill would tell you that she loves knowledge. As a lifelong journalist, I share the same passion. However, I don’t want my knowledge about Huntington’s disease to…

On a recent afternoon while I was at work, my wife, Jill, sent me an alarming text. “I’ve had a little issue with a knife and my thumb,” she wrote. “If it hasn’t stopped bleeding by the time you get home tonight, I may need to get stitches.” I…

As a lifelong advocate in the Huntington’s disease (HD) community, fellow Huntington’s Disease News columnist B.J. Viau, whose late mother had HD, knows that genetic testing is a life-changing, emotional, and difficult experience for those who are at risk for this rare…

My objectives in this column are to acknowledge two upcoming holidays: Valentine’s Day, which my wife, Jill, doesn’t believe in (she thinks it’s manufactured and that love should be celebrated every day), and Rare Disease Day, on Feb. 28, which raises awareness and prompts change for…