| Generated by Google Gemini Pro text-to-video AI software, powered by Veo 3 |
When the Foundation first made the rounds in the news, I both was skeptical,
and didn’t think it applied to me. I exercise every day, even if it’s just a
thirty-minute walk, and I always eat healthy. I get plenty of fiber, and the
right ratio of my macronutrients. I’ve never had a problem with vegetables,
even as a kid. Unfortunately, none of that mattered, because I was born with
higher susceptibility to Hereditary Chorea. You can look up what that is, and
what it does to your body, but it’s a genetic disease that there’s nothing you
can do to stop it. It doesn’t matter how you live your life, or what exams and
procedures you have done in your youth. You’re born with it, and only time
will tell if you develop it. You can get tested to see if you have the gene,
but you’re unlikely to even request such a test if you have no reason to
suspect that it runs in your family. I was adopted by a very nice and
soft-spoken man who I love very dearly, and the only thing I realized too late
that I was missing in my life was the right kind of information. I never cared
what happened to my birth parents. I was abandoned in a crackhouse as a baby,
so family services had no idea who my mother was, let alone my father. I never
had any interest in locating my birth mother, but looking back, I probably
should have, for this reason, and this reason alone. I didn’t know that the
disease runs in my family, and I still don’t know which side of the family
it’s on. It could be both, for all we know. Had we thought to get me tested, I
could have been better prepared for it. Very specifically, I would have chosen
not to have children. Do not misunderstand me, I love my kids immensely, but I
unwittingly placed them at risk simply by having them. That was the hardest
part after the onset of my symptoms, worrying that one or both of them would
suffer as I did when they got to be my age. I was so relieved when I started
hearing proof that Landis was the real deal, and not some charlatan selling
snake oil. I honestly didn’t think I would get the chance for a cure. I hoped
that my children would have better chances when they were older. Then my
thoughts darkened again, because I thought, what if Landis dies before my kids
get the chance to be cured? How big is our window here? Then the news continued,
and we found out about the panacea research, and I felt grateful again. If I died
before they completed such research, I could leave this world confident that my
young ones would likely grow up to a world with no disease. Obviously I applied for
my own healing anyway, because I certainly didn’t want to leave them, and that’s
how we’re here today. I put in a lot of work preparing my family for a future without
me. Now I have to walk a lot of that back, and consider where we go from here. Not that
I’m complaining. It’s a good problem to have.
