Huntington’s disease, which remains incurable, is a progressive brain disorder caused by a faulty gene that is passed down through families. Affecting one out of every 10,000 Americans, the symptoms for Huntington’s disease normally emerge in adults between the ages of 30 and 50.
Huntington’s disease affects not only the person diagnosed but the people closest to him or her.
“It’s a disease of the family,” says Fred Taubman, director of communications for the Huntington’s Disease Society of America. “It impacts worse than normal diseases, like cancer.”
Ashley Young’s family has been haunted by this disease for three generations. Ashley’s grandfather, dad and older brother have all been diagnosed with Huntington’s.
And Ashley has a 50/50 chance of inheriting it. But she won’t let the prospect of the disease consume her.
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