I AM: Be. Cause.

Estoy {I AM} : a person with a loved one affected by a neuro-degenerative disease, wherein nerve cells waste away in parts of the brain.


Je Suis {I AM} : not willing to stand idly by.

Be: a force in fighting for a Cause: to find a cure for 
Huntington's Disease.

Huntington's Disease (HD) is a brain disorder that is inevitably fatal and currently completely incurable.  

Passed on through generations, every child born to a parent with Huntington's has a 50% chance of sharing the same fate (exceptions include in-vitro fertilization of embryos having tested negative for the gene).   

HD affects one in 10,000 Americans. 

It is caused by a genetic defect in which a section of DNA repeats many more times than it should.  As the gene is passed down through families, the number of repeats tend to increase.

HD strikes in the prime of life - most often beginning in the 30s and 40s, but some patients begin developing symptoms as young as 20 years of age and even in early childhood.

Symptoms include:

Movements - muscle rigidity, trouble swallowing, abnormal eye movements, involuntary jerking (also, seizures & tremors)

Cognitive -slowness, learning difficulties, decreased impulse control, clumsiness, loss of ability to recall information, difficulty with decision making, poor speech (also, dementia)

Mood Disturbances - depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder/ mania, anxiety, apathy, irritability   

Complications include infection, choking, falls, heart failure and aspiration pneumonia.


The disease eventually leads to incapacitation {the inability to walk, talk and care for oneself} before it ultimately leads to death.  

But there is a new reason for hope.  In 2006, for the first time in 135 years of study, Canadian researchers successfully cured HD in a mouse.

DID YOU KNOW?

Scientists at the Dept. of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory & the University of Tennessee have for the first time successfully characterized the earliest structural formation of the disease type of the protein that causes Huntington's disease.  ...Read More

We've never been closer to eliminating this disease.  All we need is your support to take the final step.  The next dollar donated truly could be the difference.

HOW YOU CAN HELP!  >>> {link}

• General Donations, 
• Donations for Family Services (to assist those affected and their caretakers)
• Donations to Aid Research Funding
• Family Funds
• Matching Gifts
• Heritage & Planned Gifts
• Shopping HDSA Affiliates

...and MORE can be found at  http://www.hdsa.org/how-you-can-help/index.html


HD Lighthouse Family: A resource for HD sufferers, those at risk and family/ friends/ caretakers

Also, if you have updates to research and clinical trials or other resources you'd like to share with us and our readers, please CONTACT US.

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(Source: HSCA, http://www.huntingtonsociety.ca/)
(Source: MedicineWorld.org)
(Source: A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia)
(Source: the Mayo Clinic)
(Source: the Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/)