Chris Ward

Ivan lived on his own [1]. He was unsteady on his feet, and scarcely able to care for himself despite a large amount of outside help. His isolation made him vulnerable but whenever we met him at home he seemed complacently, if not blissfully, unconcerned about the situation. On the other hand his

I’ve written recently about some of the communication challenges of Huntington’s disease.  Here is another.  My encounters with a Huntington’s patient frequently went like this:

Doctor: ‘How are you?’

Patient: [no response]

Doctor: ‘Did you come on the bus?’

One of my challenges as a specialist physician was Huntington’s disease. To give you a picture, imagine 'Diane' [i] slumped in a wheelchair, stirred into speaking by something her husband has said about their 7 year old son, Will.