Atlanta News First- By Sawyer Buccy
Published: Nov. 29, 2023 at 4:51 PM EST|Updated: 15 hours ago
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – You probably know someone whose life has been impacted in one way or another by Alzheimer’s. Some people are fighting to find ways to slow the progression of the disease through clinical trials. One Georgia couple has been part of that fight.
What would you do to have more time with the people you love?
When Max Chosewood was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about 3 years ago, his family immediately knew what they wanted…time. They chose to get involved in clinical trials, to freeze or halt or slow a disease there is no cure for…not yet.
“We thought more about the idea it would help Max, so he wouldn’t decline fast. We thought, ‘Let’s do it because if it will help in any way, that is a great thing,’” said Judy Chosewood.
Some doctors are fighting to find a cure through clinical trials.
“There really are no safe, effective treatments that modify Alzheimer’s disease. It has been really a lifelong challenge for me because I have gone through my father and grandfather having Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Marshall Nash with ALCANZA/NeuroStudies.
We are at NeuroStudies in Decatur.
“It is important to keep raising the bar on the safety of the medications we are giving people and how effective they are,” said Dr. Nash.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, “Without clinical trials, there can be no better treatments, no prevention and no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Recruiting and retaining diverse trial participants is now the greatest obstacle, other than funding, to developing the next generation of Alzheimer’s treatments. Individuals with dementia, caregivers and healthy volunteers are all needed to participate in clinical studies focused on Alzheimer’s and other dementias.”
Dr. Nash tells us that Max was on one of the drugs recently approved and says the meds did slow the progression of his Alzheimer’s compared to the normal progression of the disease.
For some doctors it is about the science, the cure, for some families it is about time, making more of it.
“60 years married to this girl, I still have things to tell her,” said Max Chosewood.
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