A SON is refusing to find out if he faces the same cruel fate his mum did - after watching her deteriorate for 25 years.

Darren Clark grew up seeing his mother’s body shut down as she battled from Huntington’s disease, knowing he has a 50 per cent chance of the same peril.

The 28-year-old from Irvine ‘never knew his mum without illness’ and watched the brutal disease steal her speech and put her in a wheelchair.

He recently married his wife Robyn, 26, and was heartbroken not having his mum there after she died of the condition last year.

Now he is refusing to find out if he has the merciless gene after seeing Dorothy suffer for so long.

Determined Darren wants to stay positive like his mum did, and won’t let the disease cast a shadow over his life.

He wants to raise awareness for the illness and encourage others to ‘look at the bright side’ no matter their situation.

Darren said: “I’ve never seen my mum without illness, it is very sad growing up watching that.

“You see her fit and healthy and driving to work, then she had to give it all up, her speech started to go, she needed a wheelchair, and she stopped being herself.

“I have a 50 per cent chance of having the disease as well but I don’t want to know if I have the gene.

“If I did know I had it, any time I got a cold or ill I would think that’s the disease starting to progress and I just don’t want to live like that.

“It was very hard to take seeing your mum obviously descending because of an illness, it does play on my mind if I do have it but I’ve done well so far.

“My mum had Huntington’s disease for around 25 years, it is an illness that affects you over stages so you just get worse and worse.

“I try to be positive because my mum always was and I want to raise awareness.

“I want to share my story so others know it is okay to talk to someone and reach out.

“My mum was a wee fighter and really determined, so I want to be the same.

“What we have been doing is raising awareness for the illness my mum had.

“We have spent the last few years raising awareness because it isn’t always in the public eye.”

We told you how Dorothy Clark passed away on last year almost a year after health chiefs vowed to place her in the care of the new state-of-the art Huntington’s Disease facility in Ayr - but then backtracked on the decision.

Huntington’s disease is a condition that stops parts of the brain working properly over time. It’s passed on from a person’s parents.

It gets gradually worse over time and is usually fatal after a period of up to 20 years.