Having Alzheimer’s at 38 (2015)
My wife&#x27;s family has a different disease running through it, though one with very similar outcomes. Huntington&#x27;s.<p>It&#x27;s genetic and dominant (so a parent having it means 50&#x2F;50 for the children). Average age of onset is 38. Symptoms are a mixture of Alzheimer&#x27;s and Parkinson&#x27;s (both dementia and motor control issues).<p>Her uncle was diagnosed at 38, her mother at 50. I wasn&#x27;t around for the first one, but have been there for most of the latter case (her mother is now 60).<p>Watching someone you love deteriorate before your eyes and become a different person week by week is one of the most harrowing experiences one can go through.<p>&quot;You pick up the phone, you talk to your mom, you don’t have to say anything. It’s a mom&quot;. My wife had to go through discovering motherhood without that and she still can&#x27;t adjust to the fact that her mother is not the same person anymore, it&#x27;s a constant heartbreak.<p>I&#x27;m just glad there&#x27;s a simple test for this and that both my wife and her one brother tested negative. So I&#x27;ll never have to go through what Robin did but that possibly was something I had to contemplate for a while and just the thought of it (and those 2 months waiting for the test results) almost broke me