The Kansas CW | Clinical Trial Offers Hope for Alzheimer's Patients
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By Kara Sewell
Cynthia and Bill Rutherford
Cynthia receives one of her weekly shots.
The Clinical Research InstituteKara Sewell and Researcher Dr. Sheldon Preskorn with the Clinical Research Institute hosted a Live Interactive Blog. You can view the blog including all questions and answers by clicking "Replay Now" on the window at the bottom of this page.
The research is going on at a world-renowned research center right here in Wichita.
Not long ago, Cynthia Rutherford was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I sat down with Cynthia and her husband of 55 years, Bill.
Cynthia was a high school English teacher for thirty years. She was used to remembering names. But, after retirement, that changed.
“You were having trouble with five names, when you used to have to remember five classes of thirty each,” Bill said, talking to Cynthia.
Cynthia: “Yeah, it is just scary, just scary.”
She says her lapses started getting worse. One day in 2003, while driving home on a route she took often, she became lost.
She decided to talk to a neurosurgeon about what was happening…and the diagnosis was no surprise.
Her mother died with Alzheimer’s just three years before.
Cynthia says she knew her memory would slowly fade away. Even today, she has trouble remembering names…even her own sons’.
But, if you didn’t know her, you likely couldn’t tell she has Alzheimer’s. The disease’s effects aren’t always obvious.
Cynthia says the best way to describe the disease’s effects is it’s like words falling out of your head.
“You know what you don't remember and that is uncomfortable,” Cynthia told me.
The Rutherfords heard about a drug trial in Wichita, just ten minutes from their home. The Clinical Research Institute was heading up multiple trials, each one using a different approach to finding a cure for Alzheimer’s.
She qualified for one of the trials and is hopeful.
Dr. Sheldon Preskorn is the President and CEO of the Clinical Research Institute. He’s been a clinical researcher for 30 years and says the goal is to change the course of the illness.
“I have a passion for understanding what causes these illnesses and try to intervene and treat them,” Dr. Preskorn said.
The problem is, medication on the market now only works to improve the symptoms.
“The issue is abnormal protein accumulation and how to interfere with that either by blocking its production or increasing its clearance,” Preskorn said.
The trials explore three different methods in ridding the brain of that abnormal protein.
Cynthia is participating in only one of those trials. She started in March. Once a week, she gets an injection of the test drug. Her brain, blood and body are also checked weekly.
She hasn’t noticed a great deal of change yet. Her dosage is low and it won’t be increased until spring, if at all.
Until then, the Rutherfords are optimistic and grateful for each day she can remember simple things like a name.
Dr. Preskorn: “It would be tragic to see people die who haven't taken a chance and gone after something.”
While finding a cure would mean being a part of history, Cynthia says that’s not her concern.
“I feel as though someone has saved my life and you can hardly,” Cynthia told me, ”There is no way to say thank you."
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It’s something that’s never been done before in the United States. A drug trial attempting to cure Alzheimer’s disease and give patients their memory back.
