I was watching Country File on BBC1 last Sunday evening and was fascinated by the segment on how daffodils are being grown to create an Alzheimers drug which halts the development of the disease.
Alzheimers is in my dads side of the family. I watched my grandad deteriorate through my childhood. He started forgetting what he was doing and where he left things; progressed through forgetting who he was and what year he was in; eventually started wondering off and getting lost; before being hospitalised and loosing all ability to speak or control his muscles. It was slow and painful to watch, I hope it was less painful for him.
And now we are told that the humble daffodil, beautiful yellow flower of spring, holds the chemical ingredients for a disease halting drug treatment. There are fields full of daffs in Wales now, specifically to be harvested for this purpose.
Never before has this yellow sign of spring held so much hope; for Alzheimers sufferers the daffodil truly is a sign of new life.
PS @tweeetstreet has started a campaign with Tesco to raise money for Alzheimers; for more visit here http://tweeetcharity.jigsy.com/tesco-alzheimers thank you xx
1 comment:
Horrendous disease. My husband and I have watched his mother decline with this for a number of years. The hardest part for him is that it feels like she's died and that he is forever grieving for her, but she's alive, but not there. Very sad.
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