On the morning of February 8th, I received a call from my mom saying she had sudden onset blurred vision and a spike in blood pressure.    This began a 7 week journey of multiple MRIs, CT scans, countless labs, weekly doctor visits, outpatient therapy, intensive in-patient therapy, and a variety of different medications.    What began with vision issues and crying spells, escalated to dramatic cognitive and physical decline which worsened with extreme and shocking intensity weekly, then daily.   While all 3 MRIs suggested CJD as a possibility, all doctors dismissed it due to it's rare nature.    While in her final week at the in-patient therapy hospital, she had lost the ability to care for herself, to speak, and to eat.    It was at that time internal medicine confirmed her decline was caused by CJD.    With that diagnosis, I had 24 hours to determine end of life care for my precious mother.  We brought her home to our house, where she was kept comfortable for 5 additional days, surrounded by those that loved her dearly.    While these weeks were filled with uncertainty, heartbreak and agony on a level I didn't know existed, it was my greatest honor to care for her until the very end.

Creutzfeldt - Jakob Disease is a chameleon in Neurology, and frequently misdiagnosed as a stroke.    It is a prion disease that destroys brain tissue within weeks.    There are 500 new cases in the US annually, and not enough funding for research.   At this time there is no treatment, and it is fatal in 100% of patients.    

Mom's brain was donated to the National Prion Disease Center in Ohio to aid in the study of CJD.    Please consider a donation, in any amount, to help fund the research for understanding "how" this disease works.  With research and testing, my hope is to see a treatment become available in my lifetime, so other families will not have to stand by and watch this horrendous disease ravage their loved ones.