For years, the Guardian north of England editor, Josh Halliday, had a secret, unknown even to his friends: that for more than a decade, his father had been suffering from a devastating neurodegenerative disease; and that Halliday feared he had it too.
Huntington’s disease is a rare and cruel genetic condition. It can rob people of their voice, their mobility and even their personality. And worse than that, their children are faced with the possibility that one day they could develop the disease as well.
As Halliday tells Helen Pidd, until now there has never been a treatment for Huntington’s, let alone a cure. But a medical breakthrough in September has given tens of thousands of those affected by disease – families like his – hope for the first time.
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