Do you take your life for granted? Well, most people do, by most people, I mean people without a genetic disorder. Many suffering from genetic disorders live their life knowing there isn't a cure. Some disorders don't even allow you to live to be 5 years old. These disorders affect you both mentally and physically. And they also affect the people around you. Many diseases such as Huntington's Disease, Tay-Sachs Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, and Turner's Syndrome limit the ability to have a normal life, making you rely upon the people around you for support in simple tasks such as chewing your food. Each disorder/disease has its own symptoms and its own way of affecting your body, and most of the time there is no cure.
             Huntington's Disease is a very rare hereditary genetic disorder that leads to progressive disability and death. It starts in middle life, between ages 35 and 50 ( Dubinsky 1). The disease progressively gets worse causing symptoms such as mental deterioration, memory loss, emotional outbursts, and sever dementia. Simple things such as walking, thinking, talking become much more difficult, and eventually the person with the disease becomes entirely dependent on others. The disease progresses for 10 to 20 years, until eventually the individual dies (Gordon 1).
             All the characteristics of Huntington's disease can ultimately be traced back to a small change on the huntingtin gene on chromosome 4. People who have Huntington's disease have a huntingtin gene that is slightly larger than usual. This gene can be passed from either the father or the mother, and unlike most genetic disorders, this disease is carried on the dominant allele. This disease affects anyone, and is not more likely in either sex. (Gordon 1).
             Since the disease isn't apparent until middle life, it is very difficult to trace it during pregnancy. Also, there is no treatment due to the fact that the damage t...