The 8th annual ball was held on Saturday October 19 and was attended by 360 people including members of the Huntington’s community, researchers, specialists along with corporate and community supporters.

Huntington’s Victoria Chief Executive Officer Tammy Gardner said the night had been a great celebration and she thanked all the people who attended and donated vital funds.

Ms Gardner said the $31,046 raised would help to provide services and supports to people with HD and their families.

“As I said on the night fundraising is so vital to help us running the programs that make such a difference such as providing emergency assistance for families,” she said.

“It is gratifying to have such wonderful support.”

Ms Gardner said the highlight of the night had been seeing so many members of the Huntington’s community come together to enjoy themselves.

The night featured plenty of singing with a karaoke competition held for the second year in a row. There were also auctions, community story videos, a raffle, DJ and lots of dancing.

Ms Gardner in her speech outlined some major plans for the future including a push for funding to support the development of a HD social impact assessment tool and National Registry.

That tool would be used to measure the impacts of HD in areas such as a person’s physical and emotional wellbeing, relationships and economic situation and would help ensure they could get a tailored package of information linking them to the supports and services they required.

In addition Huntington’s Victoria will step up the campaign to make prenatal testing, called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) affordable for families.

That testing gives women a chance to fall pregnant without the risk that their baby will have HD.

Ms Gardner said May Awareness would be bigger than ever in 2020 with the #LightitUp4HD initiative, where prominent buildings light up in blue, expanded across country Victoria.