I’m pretty excited about our next trip, which will be to Colombia from July 3rd-11th. We have put together a training event for almost 30 young people from across South America to attend. The event, on the 5th and 6th, will focus on looking at the support currently available to young people impacted by HD in each country in South America and then we will develop plans as a group to improve support for young people. It is our first major move in South America, I attended a world congress in Brazil some years ago and visited some local families in Feira Grande, Brazil, but this event has the potential to really give us some plans to work on for young people in South America. It’s an area we haven’t done much in yet and they need plenty of support, so we are very excited to see what we can do.

After our training event there will be a family conference run by Ignacio from Factor-H which we are partnering on this whole event with. The conference will see lots of professionals giving talks for family members and will be a good opportunity for families to learn more about HD and what’s going on in research. After the conference we have some opportunities to visit local HD families in Colombia and spend a day with children from HD families at a Factor-H organised get together. Lots of valuable time to be spent focusing on the needs of young people in South America, and that makes me very happy. Here’s to a good trip!

Matt