Rotary Happenings: Rotarians learn about Brain Donor Project
One out of five people are living with a neurologic disease or disorder, basically, someone in your family will be directly impacted. There has been a rise in the number of people diagnosed with neurologic issues because we are living longer. Recently, the Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club heard from Tish Hevel, founder and chief executive officer of the Brain Donor Project.
The non-profit organization is in the science of supporting science. It supports the NeuroBioBank of the National Institutes of Health in its efforts to supply neurologic investigators with high-quality, well-characterized donated human brain tissue. Its main focus is on simplifying the process for brain donation and raising awareness of the critical need for it. It serves as a conduit for the brain banks within the NeuroBioBank.
The biggest hurdle to neurological research is that most people do not know about brain donation. Organ donations are for anatomical studies, not neurological studies, and they do not include the brain. Separate arrangements for brain donation need to be made. The Brain Donor Project helps to make that process as easy as possible.
Healthy and diseased brains are both needed. Almost all people can donate their brains and contribute to the advancement of science. There is no cost to the family and it is not disfiguring, allowing open caskets to still be an option. Approximately six months after the donation to the NeuroBioBank, the family will receive a pathology report. It may be helpful since many neuro-degenerative diseases cannot be definitively diagnosed until after death.
The Brain Donor Project was established in late 2016 to raise awareness of the critical need for donated brain tissue to advance the science of brain disease and to simplify the process of becoming a brain donor. To date, more than 11,000 people have started the process of becoming a brain donor when the time comes. They represent more than 150 categories of brain disease and about half have healthy (or control) brains.
The project was inspired by the death of Hevel’s father, Gene, who died from Lewy body dementia and was a brain donor himself. She is an Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist who worked internationally as a public relations professional and served as chief communication officer for a 44-county region of the American Red Cross.
For more information on the Brain Donor Project, visit www.braindonorproject.org.
The Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club holds a meeting on Fridays at 7:30 a.m. at The Community House, at 2173 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel, and via Zoom; doors open at 7 a.m. To attend in person, email Bill Harkey at William.Harkey@gmail.com by the Tuesday before the meeting. For more information, visit sanibelrotary.org or www.facebook.com/sancaprotary.