A Family Tradition - a Column by Carlos Briceño

My wife, Jill, works from home doing freelance jobs. Because she works remotely, she can watch television during the day from the comfort of our living room. The recent confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson kept Jill transfixed as she pondered…

What happens when you mix the following events together: the war in Ukraine, climate change, rising gas prices, supply chain issues, and a pandemic? It’s a recipe for a rising tide of anxiety. Scroll through social media or peruse any of the major news outlets, and the steady drumbeat…

As everyone who reads this column knows, Huntington’s disease (HD) is a devastating illness for those who test positive on a genetic test. But it can be equally terrible for family members who test negative. I’m referring to survivor’s guilt, which happens when someone feels guilty for surviving a…

Recently, my mother-in-law invited her daughter, Jill, to be part of a Zoom call with a Huntington’s disease (HD) support group she belongs to. One of the guest speakers was Patty Conlon, a clinical research coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC) Department of Neurology. Conlon…

Years ago, my wife, Jill, changed her approach to life. As she tells the story, she went from being an angry young woman to appreciating every second she spends on this earth. She was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease in 2018, but her transformation started years earlier. Jill had our…

Whenever I share that my wife and daughter are both gene-positive for Huntington’s disease (HD), I usually have to explain what the terminal illness is — “Imagine combining Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS in one disease” — and what will happen to them if a cure isn’t found in…

Earlier this month, my wife and daughter, Jill and Alexus, respectively, participated in a panel discussion about Huntington’s disease (HD). The topic was difficult conversations. Jill and Alexus are both gene-positive for HD, but they each had different reasons for accepting the invitation to participate. Alexus said, “I love talking…

For the past two years, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I have written a love letter in this space to my wife, Jill, who has Huntington’s disease. This year, instead of a Valentine’s Day letter, I’ve decided to write her a love play. It goes like this: [Carlos makes a…

My daughter, Alexus, recently spent about a month with my wife, Jill, and me, and the more time she visits with us, the sadder we get when she leaves. The weekend that she left, Jill and I moped. To divert our attention, we decided to go to a movie…

Two weekends ago, my wife, Jill, and I said goodbye to our daughter, Alexus, son-in-law, René, and their cats as they headed back home to Boston. Because remote work is now common during the pandemic, Alexus and her husband were able to spend December and early January with us…