San Diego Sports“In the Huddle,” Hope Will be Found
A Gala Event for Huntington’s Disease  Flyer for "In the Huddle" Image Courtsey of HDSA On Saturday, October 17 the San Diego Chapter of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) will be hosting their annual gala event at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. This year the title and theme of the event is “In the Huddle: A night of football ad-libs and anecdotes.” This event promises to give NFL fans a unique opportunity to rub shoulders with some the leagues’ most well known personalities, including San Diego Chargers Norv Turner, Philip Rivers, and Shawne Merriman as well as ESPN’s voices for NFL football Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden, Michele Tafoya, and Suzy Kolber. All of these people will be speaking, showing videos, and taking questions from the audience. In addition, Don Coryell will be celebrating his 85th birthday. Also being honored at the event will be Bill Johnston whose wife is a victim of Huntington’s Disease (HD). Johnston has been instrumental in raising both awareness and funds for HD here in San Diego through his professional job as the public relations director for the San Diego Chargers. Johnston said, “HD is not very well-known, but it’s more common than some other diseases such as Muscular Dystrophy and Cystic Fibrosis and Hemophilia.” According to the HDSA, “Huntington’s Disease is a devastating genetic brain disorder that causes brain cells to die and systematically robs people of their ability to walk, talk, eat, and think. Eventually, a person with HD becomes totally dependent upon others for his or her care. HD has full penetrance meaning, that they (a victim) will definitely become ill. The final result for everybody with HD is death. There is no effective treatment or cure.” Because of the San Diego Chapter of HDSA, the outlook for local patients is not so bleak. Johnston is very thankful for the resources that locally have been made available to his family. “The local chapter of the HDSA is an amazing group of dedicated individuals, that most of all, give hope to families affected by this horrible disease. Their work has raised enough money to bring a new HDSA Center of Excellence at the UCSD Medical Center, the best place in Southern California where affected individuals can go for information and support.” Even though there is currently no treatment or cure, Johnston believes that both are obtainable. Johnston said, “I believe it because HD researchers around the world believe it. The cure to HD isn’t far away because researchers are already miles ahead of many other diseases since they discovered the gene that causes the disease. That was a huge discovery.” Finding a cure for HD in the future while providing support and hope for victims and their families today takes money. That’s where the “In the Huddle” gala event comes in. If you would like to attend or learn more about this event or make a contribution to help fight HD, please contact the San Diego Chapter of the Huntington Disease Society of America by going to their web site: http://www.hdsasandiego.org/.
 Dan McLellan About the author: Dan McLellan is a San Diego native and Charger season ticket holder since 1993. He also has a weekly Charger podcast at www.DanMcLellan.com. More by this author Subscribe to Sports:
|
Weather
Share This Page |
