Is There a Disease in Your Future?
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More than a coach Portland— SEE SPORTS, B8 Tribune THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPER • PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED TUESDAY AND THURSDAY Projects inject new life into Old Town Hales hopes to shift urban renewal cash to blighted area By STEVE LAW The Tribune Believe it or not, Port- land’s Old Town/Chinatown neighborhood — long known for its homeless pop- ulation and open drug deal- ing — is facing a real estate boom. The adjoining Pearl District is getting built out, Portland’s real estate market is hum- ming, and Mayor Charlie Hales is push- “It’s ing to shift ur- ban renewal become one spending from of the most the Pearl into attractive Old Town/Chi- natown. markets for The result? younger The stars are getting fi rms.” Seventeen-year-old Luke Hilger has been helping care for his mom, Amy, since she developed Huntington’s Disease when Luke was 12. Watching Amy decline, Luke has been aligned to — Patrick confronted with a decision — whether he wants to take a test to determine if he will also develop the disease. turn around Quinton, Portland the central Development city’s most Commission ■ Genetic testing can predict illnesses, but many don’t want to know downtrodden neighborhood after decades of halting and uke Hilger has been anticipat- who get an early onset version of Hun- often futile efforts. ing his 18th birthday for tington’s. And he has made a choice. Skeptical? Consider this: years, but not just for the usu- He no longer wants to know his fate. ■ Several hundred added Lal reasons. Hilger has known “The idea was, I had to know,” Hil- IS THERE employees will go to work in since he was 12 years old that Hun- ger says. “I had to know because it’s the neighborhood in the next tington’s Disease runs in his family. going to help me sleep at night.” couple years, many of them He’s watched his But now, Hilger earning good money. Pacific mother steadily says, he’s figured Northwest College of Art ex- decline during the Story by Peter Korn out that for him, the pects to open its new campus past fi ve years, in Photos by Jaime Valdez stress of not know- A DISEASE in the area by January, bring- the grip of what ing is more bear- ing 1,300 students and 240 fac- many in medicine able than if he takes ulty and other staff. Airbnb is believe to be among the body’s cruel- the test and discovers he will suffer as opening a regional offi ce next est illnesses. he has seen his mother suffer. to the University of Oregon Huntington’s usually strikes people Three weeks ago, scientists an- satellite campus, and plans to in their 40s. It causes nerve cells in the nounced a promising new blood test hire 160 or more people. Mult- brain to break down. that experts say within 10 years IN YOUR nomah County is building a Sufferers lose control of should be available to predict who is new Health Department head- TRIB their muscles and begin going to get dementia-causing Al- quarters next to the Bud Clark to twitch uncontrolla- zheimer’s disease. Physicians can use Commons, bringing 200 or bly. Then they lose a brain scan to detect amyloid plaque more employees. SERIES their ability to think. buildup that has been associated with ■ Three hotel projects are in Eventually they devel- Alzheimer’s. Though the amyloid test the works: at the boarded-up FIRST OF FUTURE? op depression and de- is far from refi ned as a predictive tool, Grove Hotel on Burnside; the TWO PARTS mentia. There is no neurologists such as Eran Klein at Or- hostel-inspired Society Hotel cure. egon Health & Science University say on Northwest Third Avenue; There is a genetic test that will tell they are getting more inquiries from More people are and one next to the relocated Hilger if he is destined to get Hunting- patients who want the test. Patients facing choices college of art. ton’s. For the past fi ve years, anxious want to know if they are going to get similar to Luke ■ Old Town/Chinatown’s about the possibility that he would Alzheimer’s, even though the disease Hilger’s — eclectic vibe is attractive to suffer the same fate as his mother, Hil- has no cure and there is little therapy whether to learn software companies and other ger was certain he wanted to take the to ease its brain-decaying symptoms. which diseases young creatives flocking to test. But physicians, citing ethical con- Hilger and Klein’s fate-seeking pa- they are likely to Portland. Open Sesame is mov- siderations, told him he would have to tients are not medical oddities. They contract. ing into the neighborhood and wait until he was 18. are, scientists and bioethicists say, a Experts say Squarespace, a New York com- Hilger, who lives with his parents fi rst wave that eventually could grow some people are pany about to open a big out- outside Salem, turns 18 in four into a tsunami. As genetic testing and better with post here, is moving temporar- months. He has attended national con- brain scanning become more widely knowing, and ily into the neighborhood until ferences for families of Huntington’s used and better understood, most of others are it lands a permanent site. victims. He has looked for physical better with signs that he might be among those See FUTURE / Page 2 uncertainty. See OLD TOWN / Page 4 State shells out county Gain Share payday ■ Washington By PETER WONG Intel and Genentech for week. The County received its fi rst pay- Although the program ployees, as calculated by the County in line The Tribune investment in Hillsboro 20-member ment of $11.8 million 18 was created in 1993, lawmak- Oregon Business Develop- plants. board makes months ago from the Strate- ers decided in 2007 to allow ment Department from in- for $37.8 Washington County Lawmakers are poised to budget deci- gic Investment Program, the state general fund to formation supplied by the million to stands to gain $37.8 million approve the payment, plus sions when the which enables counties to ap- help counties offset part of businesses. offset tax from the state to offset $300,000 to be shared by six full Legislature prove property tax breaks for their property tax losses. Washington County says breaks part of the property tax other counties, when the is not in 15 years to attract new busi- The payments are based on it has benefi ted from $4.4 bil- breaks it Legislative Emergency session. nesses or encourage their half the estimated income grantedd to Board meets in Salem this DUYCK Washington expansion. taxes generated by new em- See FUNDS / Page 5 “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune deliver balanced news that refl ects the MISS OREGON USA HOPES TO REIN IN ONLINE VOTES stories of our communities. Thank you for reading our newspapers.” Inside — SEE LIFE, PAGE B1 — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR 65 MILLION YEARS IS A LONG TIME TO WAIT. DON’T MISS THEM THIS SUMMER. 468510.052114 A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, May 29, 2014 Future: Some people have survivor’s guilt ■ “Not knowing also has that she saw her face brighten. From page 1 health benefi ts, because it may As long as you can still smell keep your anxiety level low,” a rose, there’s still some quality us will have opportunities to Epstein says. “Knowing you of life, she says. But Turner is know ahead of time what dis- are at risk or ill is stressful, afraid that people, especially eases we are likely to contract. and stress is brutal on the im- family members, won’t see that, The question is, will we want mune system.” should predictive testing for Al- to? Only about one in fi ve peo- Epstein points to studies do- zheimer’s become widespread. ple with family histories of ne years ago on people in the Many of Turner’s clients are Huntington’s choose to take United States who live to be Alzheimer’s sufferers who re- the genetic test that preoccu- 100. “Pretty much the only married in middle age or later pies Hilger. thing they had in common was — before symptoms began “There’s this technological that they were very relaxed showing. “I’ve met a lot of su- paradigm that more informa- people,” he says. per pissed-off second spouses tion is always better,” Klein OHSU neurologist Klein ex- who said, ‘This is not what I says. “But sometimes more in- plains to patients that the avail- signed on for,’” she says. formation just complicates.” able tests for Alzheimer’s are In a world with reliable Al- very imprecise. If a patient has zheimer’s predictive testing, To test or not to test no symptoms such as unexpect- those second spouses would Nancy Wexler, a geneticist ed memory loss, he generally know that their potential wives who helped discover the Hun- refuses a request for testing. or husbands had tested posi- tington’s gene, coined the Many who pass his screening, tive, Turner says. They likely phrase Tiresias Complex to de- he says, decide against testing would have steered clear of scribe the decision facing those after those conversations. long-term commitment. The Al- who might have a test for a fa- But Klein published a study zheimer’s sufferers would not tal illness for which there is no last year in which he surveyed have had caregivers later in life.