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| I have always heard the story of how my grandfather's
grandfather married a woman from Marble Falls who had Huntington's Disease.
Because of that, my great grandfather had to go away to a state hospital
when his children were very young. They never really knew their father
and their mother worked as a nurse to take care of them. The family was
especially devastated when the eldest daughter died in childbirth at the
age of 26. Their trials were not over. First the eldest son, then the remaining
daughter were stricken with HD. The eldest son had to leave his wife and
young children to go to the state hospital with his father. Next, the youngest
son lost his wife and baby during childbirth. Still their troubles were
only beginning. The youngest son began his journey into the world of Huntington's
and soon joined his father and brother in the hospital. His remaining son
was stricken at a very early age and died before he was 25. The remaining
daughter lost two babies then gave birth to a son. That child, too, would
one day begin showing the symptoms of HD. Only one child of the five survived
to old age without any sign of HD. He was my grandfather.
This is a typical story in a Huntington line. It is heartbreaking and especially so when you know that it was your own family. The second daughter's son died in October of 2000 and he is the last in our family to have the disease. We think. We lost track of some of the eldest son's family because of the times and the disease, we hope those descendants are blessed with long and happy lives. As you travel through this website, you will meet my family and other families with this genetic disorder. I will not attempt to describe the disease, descriptions can be found elsewhere and I will post some links to those sites. This site is not a study of Huntington's Disease, it is an attempt by me and others to track our family histories by tracking a disease. HD was called "hereditary chorea" before about 1875. It was recognized as being passed from parent to child from its earliest days. Chorea is a word which means "dance" in another language. One of the symptoms of this disease is a fluid, almost graceful, tic of the entire body. Our earliest ancestors thought the victims looked like they were dancing. Those poor souls were avoided and even ostracized because our superstitious ancestors believed they were "dancing with the Devil." |
| If you are tracking a family which carries HD, please add your information here and consider joining our mailing list. My g-g-grandmother may be your g-g-aunt. To subscribe to the mailing list, send an email to HUNTINGTON-DISEASE-L-request@rootsweb.com and type subscribe in the subject line. If you prefer to receive the digest version, change that L to a D. Remember, this is NOT a support group and may not be a good place for someone who has HD or who is close to someone with HD. Most of us will be discussing ancestors we never met. (although you would certainly be welcome.) |
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last name and the "Search ALL words" option.
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