Huntington's Disease (HD) jumped into our family in the 1970s. My grandpa Howard, his father, Doug and his uncles Art and Lloyd all were felled by HD. My Aunt Gladys is in a wheelchair from HD, she is 70 years young. My dad and uncles were in their fifties when they died. They thought my grandpa was crazy and locked him up a few times in a mental hospital. I am one of six in my family. My name is Gerry and I have HD. Out of the six of us Marilyn, Mike, Myself, Debbie, Tim and Lori only myself and my sister Debbie have tested positive for Huntington's Disease. I tested positive in 1996 and Debbie in 1998. We thank God that only the two of us were stricken.
I married on October 14, 1975, after meeting Bonnie on September 15th not even a month later. We will be celebrating twenty-four years of marriage this year. Bonnie, being married previously had three kids (Lisa, Michael and Cindy) which I adopted. I have one child Tanya, from a common-law relationship.
Bonnie and I were married at City Hall. After the ceremony we went home to relieve the baby-sitter. I was just about twenty years of age at this time. Bonnie was twenty-four. On July 6, 1976, our daughter Tammy was born. She was to remain the baby of the family.
In the summer of 1976 I took a job driving a taxi/school runs/dispatching etc. Twenty years later I was still at the same job but things started to change a little. The last two up to that point I began sending drivers to the wrong addresses. I would get my numbers mixed up and at times I would swear at customers and drivers. After talking to my bosses we agreed upon me leaving. I will never forget that day. January 1, 1996, at 2:00PM. In the summer of 1995 I took the test to see if I carried the gene for Huntington's Disease. Three hundred and sixty-four days later I received my results. POSITIVE! My first thoughts upon hearing those words were, "Why me?" I was so angry I called my dad a prick for leaving me this disease. I also think I blamed God too that fateful day. I have since apologized to all. During the last twenty years we have grown with twenty grandkids. Michael and his four girls (Stephanie, Mariah, Ashly and Andrea); Cindy who had one of each (Jessica and Kyle); Tammy with her two boys and one girl (Rikki, Josh and Jennifer) all of them aged from one month to seven years old. Of all of our kids only Tammy and Tanya are at risk as well as their children (Rikki, Jenny and Josh).
