AUSTIN (KXAN) — An exceptionally rare and fatal genetic disease may finally have a solution. Huntington’s Disease affects one in ten to twenty thousand Americans. The disease is a mixture of dementia and Parkinson’s, causing cognitive decline and uncontrolled movements.
A genetic disorder, children of a person with Huntington’s have a 50/50 chance of also having the disease. Once symptoms develop, life expectancy typically lasts 10 to 25 years.
“It’s not great for anyone to watch their family members get, like, completely become a different person,” said Talia, a 15-year-old Austin-area teen who has the disease in her family. She has yet to be tested, worried about how the results could change her life.
“I feel like if I got a positive test, I would not be motivated to keep studying, or maybe just to continue trying to build myself as a person,” she said…