Woody's Dance

Huntington Chorea is a neurodegenerative disease wherein the patient exhibits, among other symptoms, uncontrollable writhing movements known as chorea. This word, chorea, is from the Greek choreía, meaning 'dance'. Probably the most famous person ever to have suffered from Huntington disease is the folk singer Woody Guthrie. Because this is an autosomal dominant disease, there was concern that Woody's folk singing son, Arlo, would also develop symptoms. Luckily, Arlo has now lived 60 years and appears to have been spared. But two of Woody's other children were striken with the disease. A fantastic music blog by Dr. Doug Shevlin, called Music is My Savior, discusses Woody Guthrie's work and a project to put to music previously unknown lyrics written by Woody. Here's the link: http://web.mac.com/scoutmd/Scoutmd/Blog/Entries/2008/2/13_Remember_The_Mountain_Bed.html