"What Can I Do?" – A Day Full of Emotions
– Written by the Moving Forward Team on August 30th 2023
The second informal meeting for people at risk of HD and people with premanifest HD took place in Madrid before the Summer break. This meeting was the space to formalize the ending of the psychological support online consultations, a project conducted by the Moving Forward team in Spain since December 2022.
Most of the participants in this pioneering initiative were able to travel to Madrid to have a final face-to-face group session led by the psychologist of the project, Francisco Iruela, and spend a really exciting day with the whole Moving Forward team.
After this group session, the participants shared a delicious lunch while waiting for the rest of the meeting attendees, who travelled from many other Spanish provinces to join the meeting at the Spanish capital.
The afternoon started with a short presentation by Ruth Blanco, the Moving Forward coordinator in Spain, who talked about all the initiatives that the Moving Forward project has been implementing specifically for the Spanish HD community.
Then, Christian Ballester, a young neurologist coming from an HD family, talked about all the changes one can make to his lifestyle patterns (physical exercise, nutrition, sleep, etc.) to keep a good health status. This presentation, entitled “What Can I Do?”, gives a practical yet rigorous scientific perspective about all the factors that may influence the HD status and progression considering the most recent research studies.
The day ended with a snack, where everyone gathered around a table with drinks and food. We are very grateful to everyone who made this meeting possible, and we are looking forward to meeting again!