A Family Tradition
— Carlos Briceño

As we celebrate National Family Caregivers Month, I would like to share an experience I had at a Huntington’s disease advocacy meeting I attended with my wife, Jill, a couple of years ago. It was my first advocacy meeting, and as I stepped through the doors of the…

“You pay for it now, or you pay much more later.” My wife’s father said that often. Ken wasn’t a policymaker or a scientist. He was a dad who lived and died with Huntington’s disease, passing in 2011 from complications of the same illness that now tightens its…

Second in a series. Read part one. Last week, I introduced Christy Dearien, the author of “Livable Lives: Conversations with the Huntington’s Disease Community.” The book explores how Huntington’s disease (HD) affects relationships, identity, and life decisions. My wife and daughter, as well as Christy’s…

First in a series. My wife, Jill, and I met Christy Dearien last year at a Huntington’s disease (HD) event in Maryland. Like Jill, Dearien’s brother is gene-positive for HD. Dearien had just published a book, “Livable Lives: Conversations with the Huntington’s Disease Community,” exploring how this…

I got home from work the other day and caught a glimpse of a relic on our television set: a 5 p.m. local newscast. Stranger still, my wife, Jill, was actually leaning forward and watching it. On the newscast, some government officials were criticizing diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI,…

Huntington’s disease (HD) has cast a long shadow over my wife Jill’s family tree. When she was diagnosed in 2018, we knew we’d be fighting the same enemy that had taken her father and many other relatives on his side of the family. Today, we focus on what gives…

When I received my wife’s recent text, which she wrote in all caps — something she’s morally opposed to — the room seemed to tilt. I felt like dancing like a fool while laughing and crying at the same time. Jill had included a link with the following headline: …

A quiet evening at home recently threw me for a loop. My wife, Jill, and I were relaxing in our living room, watching a reality TV show, when one of the cast members used the term “woke” to insult someone. Without missing a beat, Jill looked at me with genuine…

When my wife, Jill, was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease (HD), our world shifted. HD is a cruel, inherited, neurodegenerative illness that affects movement, cognition, and emotions. It’s a diagnosis that forces you to confront life’s fragility head-on. For us, it also became a wake-up call — a chance to…

My family has a running list of sayings I’m officially banned from using at home. Apparently, tossing out cheesy phrases multiple times a day is grounds for an intervention — at least according to my wife, Jill, and our daughter, Alexus. But for this column, I’m breaking the…

I never thought I’d be driving to work listening to the Kelce brothers interview Taylor Swift about her upcoming “Life of a Showgirl” album on their “New Heights” podcast. At 61, my musical tastes have been pretty set for decades: Give me some Bruce Springsteen or U2, and…

Last in a series. Read part one.  Choosing genetic testing for Huntington’s disease is an act of courage on its own, as I pointed out in my column last week. But as my wife, Jill, discovered, the medical system’s maze can make it feel like an outright ordeal.