Anna’s story – Family Matters – Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month 2021

Anna, who is from Scotland, is 23 and is living with Juvenile Huntington’s disease.

Anna and her parents, Catriona and David, share their story, explaining how they have navigated the realities of coming to terms with life with Juvenile Huntington’s.

[holliejohnstone]

I'm 25 and I also have juvenile Huntingtons Disease. I can barely move anymore and I've nearly died a few times from chocking on food and drink. I inherited this from my mum who died in 2018. She was only 44. I miss her so much.

[debbiejansen]

Anna is blessed with loving caring parents. It is a horrible disease. I hope that a cure is found soon.

[GillianMorrison]

Anna is not remarkable BECAUSE she has Huntingdons, Anna is remarkable because of her outlook and character, passion for life and her solution-focused attitude. And though she has this terrible illness, she is not defined by it. Thank you for sharing your story Anna.

[LuLu-gcqn]

Anna is beautiful and loving. The kind of daughter any parent would want to have. Gorgeous little Ginger, and her personality seems so much like her parents. Sweet, gentle, positive, and content. She has a wonderful family.

[dawndouglas]

Hoping you have happiness in your days, Anna

[yvonnesanford]

What a lovely, loving family. May God bless you all.

[nag]

What a dear angel that girl, what a big kind sincere smile, just melted my heart. She will have the best place in heaven of all of us.

[pawsomeblog]

Anna my daughter is 13 and captivated by diamond art. She is so chuffed to hear of your works and making Disney brillant for her. Thank you Anna :) x

[annehunt]

My mum died of this in 95 she was only 58 all we were told was that it was hereditary but to this day neither myself or any of my siblings have been tested or counselling given so we're no further forward than we were nearly 30 years ago shocking really

[NickanM]

@ 01:06
That is one of the cutest babies I've ever seen in my whole life! 😍
(Including my own 2.)
We must find a cure for this hellish disease!

[Ceerads]

Beautiful people. I hope all of you have many happy days.

[ireneyoung]

A happy girl, very brave with wonderful parents to help her.Good luck Anna.

[mohammedaslam]

It's so nice to see she's living her life and enjoying :)

[JonathanHernandez-mmnd]

May god be with Anna and god bless her family.

[Allegra]

Bless beautiful Anna and her loving family X

[Livinglife]

Anna you are beautiful and you have wonderful parents. You are strong and give me strength too. Thankyou

[hjong]

Anna is a lovely young lady. I wish her and her family all the best. It’s so important to have loving and supporting parents, which she definitely does. Miracles do happen. I hope they either find a cure or better therapies to help stave off the effects of Huntington’s. Much love to Anna and her family 💕

[karenlayton]

My uncle cand his two sons had HD. Noone else except one cousins son have had it. It is devastating to watch.

[alisongreen]

The statistics on the impact on carers is really interesting- and very brave that they were surveyed and the results made public.
So many people are saying that it's fine for people who have the gene to just have children "because it's natural to want children". Yes, it's natural, but this survey shows the awful reality that people are just ignoring. If you have HD and pass it on- it won't be you caring for your children, somebody else will have to.
The families that choose not to have children, to adopt, or to have ante-natal testing and to terminate affected pregnancies, are to be applauded.
So sad for this family who unknowingly adopted a child who was affected, and will now lose that child that they clearly love so much. Of course, the biological family may not have known about it at the time of the adoption, but I can't help thinking that they did. Anna is lucky to have these parents - I can only pray that her adopted sister doesn't have it too.
The adoptive parents are just outstanding human beings.

[jojoFranklin]

Nurture wins … wonderful young lady, wonderful parents. A beautiful thing.