Sergey Brin Makes a Shocking Announcement on His New Blog

Sergey Brin, co-founder of the search-engine powerhouse Google, has launched Thursday his personal blog on the web, becoming the first of three major Google executives to start the blog.

The very first post on Brin's blog, titled TOO (too.blogspot.com), explains the blog's name: "Welcome to my personal blog. While Google is a play on googol, too is a play on the much smaller number -- two. It also means 'in addition,' as this blog reflects my life outside of work."

In his second post, Grin reveals shocking news, saying he carries a particular genetic mutation that is linked to Parkinson’s Disease. The inaugural post is named "LRRK2," after the gene that carries a mutation called G2019S.

Brin said he discovered that he carries the gene mutation through 23andMe, the genetics testing start-up co-founded by his pregnant wife, Anne Wojcicki.

The U.S. biotech company, 23andMe, is developing new ways to help people make sense of their own genetic information. In May 2007, Google has invested $3.9M in the company.

"It is clear that I have a markedly higher chance of developing Parkinson's in my lifetime than the average person. In fact, it is somewhere between 20 percent to 80 percent, depending on the study and how you measure," Brin said in the blog post.

Brin wrote in his blog that his mother and her aunt both have Parkinson's, and as he now is aware of his condition it would help him take steps like exercising that could curb that risk.

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease that causes slowed movements, depression, cognitive disturbance, tremor (shaking), rigidity, and a wide variety of other symptoms. The disease is caused when brain cells called substantia nigra that produce dopamine, die off.

This is the progressive nervous disease, occurring most often after the age of 50. It affects an estimated 1 per cent of people older than 65. Symptoms start out with shaking and can progress to paralysis. There is no cure for Parkinson's disease, although a number of drugs can treat the symptoms of the disease only. Exposure to pesticides and herbicide is strongly linked with disease risk.

"I feel fortunate to be in this position. Until the fountain of youth is discovered, all of us will have some conditions in our old age, only we don't know what they will be," Brin wrote. "I have a better guess than almost anyone else for what ills may be mine -- and I have decades to prepare for it."