To the Hobbs Family On The Loss Of Bryan To Huntington’s Disease

I want to express my sincere condolences to the Hobb family after losing Bryan to Huntington’s disease on April 5, 2022. The Hobb’s family has posted on Facebook their loss over losing their dad and the wife, Deb, over losing the love of her life, Bryan. They are truly a family that loved this man deeply.

I met Deb Wilson-Hobbs in April 2017 at the Help 4 HD convention in Elk Grove, CA. I had just published my nonfiction book, Watching Their Dance: Three Sisters, a Genetic Disease and Marrying into a Family At Risk for Huntington’s, and Katie Jackson, President of Help 4 HD, allowed me sell my book at the event. (the profit I made that day from book sales, I donated to Help 4 HD)

I remember sitting at the table at the convention and Deb walking by. She stopped to look at the book and asked what it was about. I said “it’s my husband and my love story while living at risk for Huntington’s disease (HD)”. Story is the key word, because she looked at me and said, “why do I want to read your story when I have my own”? Even though I said, “100% of the profit from the book sales today is going to Help 4 HD, and from then on to Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA), it didn’t matter and I totally understood where she was coming from.

That year, I was visiting all the HD support groups in Northern California and I saw Deb again at the Chico group. Then in 2019, Deb and her family, organized a HDSA Team Hope Walk in Chico, CA where they lived. John and I attended to help with the event and they raised $8,000.00, I believe, and I got to meet Bryan. It was a lovely park and the local news came out and interviewed Deb and her family.