An Unexpected Positive

Kathy McKenzie said a final goodbye to her husband Michael on December 5, 2017. She had taken care of him as he suffered through Parkinson’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia for more than ten years. The idea of donating his brain for neurologic research had come up during that period, but Kathy hadn’t really decided to do it until late in Michael’s life, in the final weeks before he died when a hospice physician helped her make arrangements. She’ll tell you herself that something unexpected and wonderful happened at that point. And it’s because, in an important way, Michael’s story isn’t over

Here’s the thing – Kathy’s not the only one. Families routinely reach out to us after they’ve donated a loved one’s brain and report the same set of emotions. It’s a sense of generosity and hope that something positive may come from a terrible loss because brain donation holds the very real promise of advancing the science of neurologic disorders.

Kathy feels so strongly about this that she’s helping us spread the word about The Brain Donor Project so that other families can feel this comfort at a time when it means so much. We are very happy to add her voice, and her reasons for supporting brain donation. And we’re beyond grateful that she has seen to it that her beloved Michael still has plenty more to say.