In a divided world, Huntington’s disease reminds me what matters most
My family's experience has taught me that illness is the ultimate equalizer
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Turn on the news, and it’s easy to witness a jet stream of anger swirling around the main headlines in our world today: wars, spikes in the cost of living, political campaigns, and more.
In observing the various levels of displeasure these headlines provoke, I started to wonder, why do we waste our precious, numbered days poisoning the air with words that cut like razors? Why do we choose to spend our finite moments on this earth nurturing grudges that will outlive none of us? When did we forget that every hateful word we speak, every bitter thought we harbor, brings us no closer to solving the one truth that binds us all: that, with each passing second, we are dying?
I started to wonder if all that anger could somehow cheat death. Could our resentment cure diseases? Could our political divisions heal the various kinds of suffering we all encounter? The answer that came to me was a resounding no. Cancer doesn’t care about your politics. Heart attacks don’t pause for your prejudices. Huntington’s disease (HD) doesn’t discriminate based on your beliefs.
In referring to Huntington’s, of course I’m thinking about my wife, Jill, who was diagnosed as gene-positive in 2018. But Jill isn’t my only teacher when it comes to understanding illness. I grew up watching my father manage diabetes daily. I saw my mother navigate the complex challenges of bipolar disorder while living with leukemia. And then I lost a sister to cancer when she was 45.
Each of these experiences has one heartbreaking thing in common: Like countless other diseases, these conditions have no cure, and treatments come at a frustratingly slow pace. More importantly, they all share the same cruel indifference to our hopes, dreams, and personal circumstances — and especially our political beliefs.
Yet here we are, choosing hatred over healing, bitterness over compassion, while the clock ticks relentlessly forward for all of us. For those of you who either have a rare disease or a loved one who does, every moment we spend tearing each other down is a moment stolen from finding real solutions to the diseases that ravage our bodies, the loneliness that breaks our spirits, and the fears that keep us awake at night.
Setting aside our differences
Watching Jill face the progressive symptoms of HD while knowing that our daughter, Alexus, carries the same genetic burden, I’m reminded daily that illness is the ultimate equalizer. HD doesn’t discriminate based on education level, income, race, or political affiliation. It affects families across all demographics, making life increasingly challenging by the day.
I’m saddened by our collective inability to find solutions for the major problems that affect society, such as cures for insidious diseases. But what makes me even sadder is watching how often our energy gets divided among different causes instead of being multiplied toward common solutions. We waste precious time fighting each other over politics, religion, and personal differences while the real enemies — HD, for instance — continue their relentless advances.
The consequences of our divisions are written in the faces of patients who die alone; in research that goes unfunded because we’re too busy fighting culture wars; in the silence that surrounds suffering because we’ve made compassion a political stance rather than a human imperative.
The rare disease community has taught me that survival often depends on setting aside these differences. Families affected by genetic conditions like HD work together regardless of their beliefs, because they understand what truly matters. They share research findings, emotional support, and resources because they know that collaboration leads to progress.
My family’s journey through multiple illnesses has shown me that diseases are nonpartisan. They don’t pause for religious holidays or respect cultural boundaries. They simply make life harder for everyone they touch.
As Jill often reminds me, “Diseases don’t care about our politics; they just make our lives worse.” As usual, Jill is absolutely right. It’s time we started treating medical research and healthcare advancement as the shared human priorities they should be — before we waste any more of our numbered days on hatred that heals nothing.
Note: Huntington’s Disease News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Huntington’s Disease News or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to Huntington’s disease.
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