Her husband George lived with PSP and generously donated his brain to the Queen Square Brain Bank when he passed away in 2014.
Kathryn has decided that she too would like to donate her brain for use as control tissue. She told us about her motivation and experiences with George’s donation.
“It makes sense that, in order for research to be successful, researchers need to be able to compare brains which are healthy with those that are affected by neurological disease. I hope that my brain will still be healthy when I die and might help in the search for better diagnosis and medication which, if it doesn’t cure, might alleviate the some of the more unpleasant features of PSP. When I watched my husband deteriorate I felt very helpless to do more than try and make life as pleasant and normal as possible; this is something I can do which might help. Both our sons are in agreement and will do what is necessary for me.
“Our experience when George died was positive and I hope encourages other people to consider brain donation. He had already signed all the consent forms and this obviously made it much easier. I also had to give consent but this was easily dealt with by phone and email. George’s body was moved to the pathology department at the hospital in Leicester for the procedure to be carried out but the funeral director was able to collect him very soon and it caused no delay in funeral arrangements. It was very important to George to be able to make a contribution to research that might help someone else.”
