Serbin, Kenneth P.

English

University of San Diego

University of San Diego Digital USD At Risk for Huntington's Disease Department of History 11-25-2009 Smelling the flowers at Thanksgiving Kenneth P. Serbin University of San Diego Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/huntingtons  Part of the Nervous System Diseases Commons Digital USD Citation Serbin, Kenneth P., "Smelling the flowers at Thanksgiving" (2009). At Risk for Huntington's Disease. 55. https://digital.sandiego.edu/huntingtons/55 This Blog Post is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at Digital USD. It has been accepted for inclusion in At Risk for Huntington's Disease by an authorized administrator of Digital USD. For more information, please contact digital@sandiego.edu. 11/16/21, 1:04 PM At Risk for Huntington's Disease: Smelling the flowers at Thanksgivingcurehd.blogspot.com/2009/11/smelling-flowers-at-thanksgiving.html 1/4Blog Archive►  2021 (12)►  2020 (16)►  2019 (19)►  2018 (16)►  2017 (14)►  2016 (13)►  2015 (24)►  2014 (24)►  2013 (30)►  2012 (26)►  2011 (33)►  2010 (26)▼  2009 (21)►  December (1)▼  November (2)Smelling the flowers atThanksgivingNo time for fear►  October (3)►  September (2)►  August (3)►  July (3)►  June (1)►  May (2)►  April (4)►  2008 (7)►  2007 (7)►  2006 (4)►  2005 (17)About MeGENE VERITASView my complete profileHD LinksHuntington's Disease Societyof AmericaInternational HuntingtonAssociationHuntington's Disease DrugWorksWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25,  2009Smelling the flowers at ThanksgivingThanksgiving is a time to slow down and reflect on all the good in our lives. As I wonder about when I will follow in my deceased mother’s footstepsand develop Huntington’s disease, one thing I am most grateful for is theopportunity to spend time with my nine-year-old daughter. She is our “miracle baby”; she tested negative for HD while still in thewomb. One of the keys to life – and especially to living with a gene-positive statusfor a devastating brain disease – is seizing the moment. Each moment isunique and will not return. We must smell the roses – but also appreciate many other kinds of lovelyscents and scenes nature and our lives have to offer. One recent afternoon I decided to surprise my daughter by taking her tothe San Diego Botanic Garden. The pictures you see here are hers. My daughter loves seeds and plants. Shortly after she started to walk, ataround ten months, I started to take her to a local park. There shediscovered all kinds of plant parts to collect. I was her assistant. Shelearned to make “soup” with these interesting ingredients. Often we had tobring everything home for her to keep. Two years ago I helped her with her first science fair project. She plantedAt Risk for Huntington's DiseaseHD is a genetically caused brain disorder that causes uncontrollable bodily movements and robspeople's ability to walk, talk, eat, and think. The final result is a slow, ugly death. Children of parentswith HD have a 50-50 chance of inheriting the disease. There is no cure or treatment.More Create Blog  Sign In11/16/21, 1:04 PM At Risk for Huntington's Disease: Smelling the flowers at Thanksgivingcurehd.blogspot.com/2009/11/smelling-flowers-at-thanksgiving.html 2/4Huntington's DiseaseLighthouseHereditary DiseaseFoundationHuntington's DiseaseAdvocacy CenterThomas Cellini Huntington'sFoundationHDSA Orange County (CA)AffiliateHD Free with PGD!Stanford HOPESEarth Source CoQ10, Inc.HD Blogs andIndividualsChris Furbee: HuntingtonsDanceAngela F.: SurvivingHuntington's?Heather's Huntington'sDisease Pageseeds and measured and graphed the growth rate of several species. Thispast year she studied pollution flowing into the Tijuana Estuary and thePacific Ocean. These days we still bring home sticks, pine cones, petals, and her belovedseeds. I sometimes tell her she’s going to be a botanist.For many years, my wife and I didn't talk about our daughter’s genetic test.After worrying so much about HD’s impact in so many aspects of our lives,we wanted to enjoy her without the disease’s ugly possibilities marring theone area of our life that was normal. Lately, though, as she has matured, the consequences of our decision tohave her tested have become powerfully present. She is free from HD. A couple days ago my wife recalled how, before the genetic test, she hadoften felt the baby’s kicks and wondered whether we would continue withthe pregnancy. Had she tested positive, we would have contemplated an11/16/21, 1:04 PM At Risk for Huntington's Disease: Smelling the flowers at Thanksgivingcurehd.blogspot.com/2009/11/smelling-flowers-at-thanksgiving.html 3/4abortion, which we oppose on moral grounds but recognize as necessary insome cases. Now, as she flowers like the beautiful plants that she loves to photograph,our daughter will soon start learning about her father’s gene-positivestatus.Perhaps her budding interest in nature will help her comprehend andaccept my own biological reality.But that story is for another day. For now, I want to enjoy her photographsand her own beautiful life. Posted by Gene Veritas at 9:46 PM   1 comment:Confessions of a Mother, Lawyer & Crazy Womansaid...Hello - What a lovely post. I wanted to stop by and tell you Iappreciate your blog. My father was just diagnosed w/ HD and11/16/21, 1:04 PM At Risk for Huntington's Disease: Smelling the flowers at Thanksgivingcurehd.blogspot.com/2009/11/smelling-flowers-at-thanksgiving.html 4/4Newer Post Older PostPost a CommentHomeSubscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)I am trying to determine my future path and make sense of allof it.8:16 AM, November 30, 2009

Smelling the flowers at Thanksgiving

https://digital.sandiego.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1074&context=huntingtons

Smelling the flowers at Thanksgiving

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