Alzheimer’s disease research by Dr. Jack Jhamandas and Dr. Lorne Tyrrell receive a $4-million boost
7 March 2024
By Jackie Carmichael, Ottawa Citizen
Don Hunter knows the devastation Alzheimer’s brings to a family. It’s that first-hand knowledge that prompted a $4-million gift to forward research through Edmonton’s University Hospital Foundation (UHF).
Over a decade ago, his beloved wife Sophie, now 88, slowly began to change, right in front of his eyes. It was puzzling, but no one put the pieces together at the time.
A fit woman who loved to golf, Sophie couldn’t find her way home from the Sherwood Park course she’d been golfing at for a half- century.
Always a soft-spoken woman, she got even quieter.
As her words disappeared, so did some close social connections.
Sophie’s familiar leisure pursuit of curling became a lonely one.
An American doctor incorrectly suspected sleep apnea to be the culprit of encroaching dementia, so for two years the Hunters went through a succession of CPAP masks in order to find one she’d keep on through the night, all to no avail.
Finally, a heart-breaking diagnosis to go with Sophie Hunter’s deteriorating condition.
Alzheimer’s.
“It’s hard to explain, but (Alzheimer’s) is terrible,” said the Edmonton-area resident.
“Every time I look at her, it brings tears to my eyes. She was a vibrant person, kind and good to those kids and to me. She was my partner."
“She doesn’t think we’re married. That was probably the hardest part. I was just a friend,” Hunter said in an interview.
Prospect for a cure
Don Hunter, 88, spent much of the last decade seeking out someplace where advanced research could help with a cure or a treatment.
A good friend from college had a wife also struggling with dementia, and together they looked for treatments or cures online.
He learned the University of Alberta Hospital researchers in Edmonton were getting close to human trials, with a team ready to advance to the next stage in the process...
...University of Alberta professor and neurologist Dr. Jack Jhamandas has been researching the scourge of Alzheimer’s disease for more than 20 years.
Jhamandas believes he’s on the edge of a promising new drug candidate with the potential to not only prevent but reverse the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s disease.
In collaboration with Dr. Lorne Tyrrell, founding director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology and University of Alberta professor, and Nobel Laureate Sir Michael Houghton, Jhamandas has been advancing the development of treatment to the final phases before beginning human clinical trials.