My dad passed away Friday. He donated his brain to Parkinson’s research.
My dad passed away on Friday after a very difficult battle with Parkinson’s/parkinsonism.
I’ve posted here before during his illness, and I wanted to come back and share that before he died, I enrolled him in the Mayo Clinic’s brain donation program for Parkinson’s and related movement disorder research. After he passed, his brain was donated to Mayo for research.
It was incredibly important to me that something meaningful could come from what happened to him. His disease progressed very quickly, and there were still so many unanswered questions about exactly what was happening neurologically. Mayo will be able to study his brain, establish the neuropathologic diagnosis, and use the tissue for research that may help us better understand these diseases.
My dad was an Air Force veteran, and we later learned that he had been exposed to TCE during his military service, something he never even knew had happened. Given the research surrounding TCE and Parkinson’s disease, donating his brain felt especially meaningful to me.
I’m devastated that he’s gone, but I’m very proud that a part of him will contribute to research. If anyone here has ever considered brain donation for themselves or a loved one, I’m also happy to share what the enrollment and donation process was like for our family. ❤️