Hey Alison.

I will be 21 in january, and I know of the pain you've been suffering. My
grandfather died of HD before i was even born, and my father inherited the gene
from him. After 15 years of symptoms, my dad died this past June at the age of
52. I am the youngest of 3 children. My sister, nicole is 30 and has tested
positive(has been showing symptoms for almost 5 years already) , my brother
Don is 29 and negative, and I am planning on getting tested as soon as I have
the cash. I know it's hard to watch your family suffer in such ways, but I
promise you that things will get better.
I was such a daddy's girl growing up. He started to show symptoms when I
was only 5 years old, and we discovered that he had HD when I was a freshman
in high school. As if starting High school isn't bad enough, I found out about
HD in my biology class. It was horrible to sit there and learn that my father
was going to die from this disease, and that I have a chance to inherit it,
all the while surrounded by a room full of strangers that would never
understand. It was a very traumatic point in my life, and because of that, I
repressed
almost all of my memories from childhood. I barely remember anything that has
to do with my family, but every once in a while something in my head will
click and i'll see a glitch of my past.
Anyway, My dad was put into a nursing home about 3 or 4 years ago, and he
slowly got worse. I thought my life was going to be over when he died. It
took me months to get over it, but now I am comforted by knowing he's here with
me in spirit. I am a very big believer in life after death and I know that my
daddy has been watching over me and visiting our family. It comforts me to know
that he's not suffering anymore, and instead of being bedridden, he's running
around us playing hockey and eating everything in sight (his 2 favorite
things in life). He watches over my neice and nephew. In fact, my neice woke up
ony night crying and shaking...she told my brother in law (her dad) that she saw
"mommy's daddy" in her bedroom. My neice is 2, and she's only met my father
a handfull of times when she was just a baby. How would she come up with that
by herself?
It's just so nice to know that he's finally here with us. When other
people pray before they go to bed, I sit up and talk to my dad as if he's
standing
right in the room with me, because i'm sure he is.
Watching someone you love suffer from HD is not an easy task, but it's
something we have to do. Just know that eventually, those people will be
fulfilling
their lifelong dreams in a world that doesn't prohibit them from being happy.
They will no longer have to rely on someone else to bathe them, or help them
go to the bathroom, or even to brush their hair. I can live now knowing that
my daddy is finally happy, and he'll never miss a day in any of our lives,
because he's right here with us. Even though I can't see him, his spirit is
here, and that makes me truelly happy, too.

Good luck, and sorry i took up so much of your time. Keep in touch, and write
anytime! Shabs96@...

-Shannon


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