Family Health History

I was recently reading an article about hereditary diseases and I started to think about the multiple diseases I should be looking at in the Brubaker line of the family.  In his own history, in addition to the regular childhood diseases, Dad had whooping cough at about age five.  He suffered from diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.  He also suffered from heart disease that prevented him from having back surgery in his old age. 

The Parkinsons is an interesting consideration, because the verdict is still out on whether or not it is a hereditary disease.  In the case of the Brubaker’s: Dad had it, I think Uncle Jack and Uncle Bud had it.  I think Grandma Brubaker also suffered from it.  So what is going on?  One theory, the idea I like to call the “Pure Crapola, Theory” of Parkinsons is that maybe the family lived on farms and was exposed to multiple pesticides and fertilizers in their early lives.  The theory says this may have caused the Parkinsons.  I read about this theory in the Minnesota newspapers because there seems to be an increasing number of Parkinsons sufferers in the Upper Midwest.  This theory seems to be along the lines of when in doubt blame someone else for your troubles.  Anyway, that is all just rambling thought.

A point to consider is the heart condition of the Brubaker family.  It is not intended as some great compliment to say the Brubakers had great hearts.  The reality is that, although they may have suffered from heart disease, I don’t think any of them died from any type of heart disease.  Did they?

The point of all of this is that maybe we should be tracking diseases in the family.  It might help us in the future.  A new line of investigation in the family might be to record the diseases and the medical history of the family.  Maybe it will enlighten us in the future.