Ferncliff resident meets with Pope Francis
RHINEBECK, N.Y. >> Bridgette Nathan said she felt special and “really good inside” after meeting Pope Francis last week during a special papal audience at Vatican City for people affected by Huntington’s disease.
Nathan, 24, said the pope met everyone at the audience and shook their hands. She said he gave her a hug and asked her to pray for him. The pope also blessed her and prayed for her, Nathan said.
“I felt like a million bucks,” Nathan said Tuesday in an interview about her experience in Rome. She said the meeting gave her hope.
Nathan, who grew up in Jamaica, the Bahamas, resides at ArchCare at Ferncliff’s Center for Neurodegenerative Care, according to information from the facility. She settled in New York at the age of 18, after she was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. At that time, she had already lost most of her family to the disease.
During the visit with the pope on May 18, people from 26 different countries were in attendance, Nathan said. She said she never realized Huntington’s disease was a worldwide problem. Nathan said growing up she thought it was a disease that affected Jamaicans and that her family had been cursed. Now she knows that is not the case, she said.
Nathan said she plans to always remember her visit with the pope, but she also hopes there will be a cure for Huntington’s disease very soon.
The audience with the pope was made possible through a global coalition of Huntington’s disease advocates under their initiative, HD-dennomore (pronounced “Hidden No More”). The event was aimed at raising awareness of, and removing the stigma around, Huntington’s disease, which is a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain.
On Nov. 4, a walk will be held to raise money to support the mission and services of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America. The walk will be held at the Walkway Over the Hudson in Highland.
For information, visit www.hdsa.org/thwhudsonvalley.