Huntington Disease, HD, is a hereditary degenarative brain disease. Usually begining in mid-life, cells in the caudate nucleus of the brain begin to die, causing a relentless deterioration of intellectual ability, emotional control, motor skills, balance and speech. Chorea, or involuntary movements, is nearly always a symptom as well. HD is caused by a single dominant gene. Every child of an affected parent has a 50% chance of inheriting the gene that causes HD. The HD gene is found on chromosome 4. It is inherited as an autosomal dominant condition. Since it is not carried on one of the sex...
illness is often expressed in terms of responses to other family memebers, with statements such as "What have I done to my child!" .

Whatever the result of genetic testing, the at-risk individual and family members can expect powerful and complex emotional responses. The health and happiness of spouses, brothers, sisters, children, parents and grandparents are affected by a positive test result, as are an individuals friends, work associates, neighbours and others. Because recieving the test results may prove to be devestating, testing guidelines call for continued counselling even after the test is complete and the results are known.