A Family Tradition - a Column by Carlos Briceño

My wife, Jill, and I recently visited the retail store Party City to pick out decorations for her mother’s 80th birthday. Jill held up a glittery banner and asked if it was too much. I joked that nothing could ever be too much for our family. Jill smiled and agreed.

It was just a glimpse, really. A few seconds on the road. My wife, Jill, who is gene positive with Huntington’s disease, and I were driving home several months ago when we passed a car pulled over on the shoulder, its hazard lights blinking. A police officer stood beside…

In life with Huntington’s disease (HD), our family’s calendar fills up quickly. There are checkups, follow‑ups, and scans that land on days you would rather spend at the park or at a movie. Maybe that’s why, when a birthday shows up on the calendar, our family treats it like…

My wife, Jill, who is gene-positive with Huntington’s disease (HD), shared a serious issue she’s been struggling with lately: “I hate showers, and if I hate them now, how will I push through the uncomfortableness when several HD symptoms make it too difficult?” she said. This was not the…

Mothers are often told that, once they have a child, their heart now lives outside their body. For years, that line sounded like something stitched on a pillow you buy at a Hallmark store and then feel guilty about never dusting. For my wife, Jill, it stopped being a cliche…

The first time my wife, Jill, almost cried in front of me, Huntington’s disease (HD) was already part of our story, just not the headline yet. It was there in the background, like a low drumbeat under all the usual early-relationship excitement: new love, big plans,…

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…

The other evening, my wife, Jill, and I were watching a YouTube show that explored how people cope with loss. As the narrator was describing the seven stages of grief — shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, and hope — Jill clicked the pause button. In our years together, especially…

Intrusive thoughts used to feel like my wife Jill’s own private crime scene, especially after she was diagnosed as being gene-positive for Huntington’s disease. As she describes it, they were the kind of thoughts that no one warns you about, including sudden flashes of worst-case scenarios, images of…

The women in my life — my wife, Jill, and our daughter, Alexus — are the kind who can do absolutely anything they set their minds to. Both would call themselves feminists, not just in words but in the way they live: taking on challenges, speaking their minds, and refusing to let…