Joan Grycuk, who had Parkinson’s, donated her brain to the Tissue Bank in October 2005. Joan’s son, Michael, spoke to Kirstin Goldring, Tissue Bank Manager, about her decision.

“My mother always made it clear that when she died, if medical people wanted to use parts of her body for research then she was happy for this to happen. She had decided she wanted to donate parts of her body to help others.”

Mrs Grycuk was 81 when she died, and Michael described her as being very fit up to that point, apart from the problems with Parkinson’s.

“She was a very independent and resourceful woman. She walked everywhere and had travelled the world. She never asked for help from anyone, so developing Parkinson’s was very difficult for her.”

The family was initially unsure of whether to go ahead with tissue donation when Joan died, but Michael felt it was important to fulfil his mother’s wishes.

Michael didn’t immediately know what to do to in order to fulfil his mother’s request.

“At the time, we looked up the Parkinson’s Disease Society’s website and saw the information about the Tissue Bank and that it was asking for donations. The Tissue Bank website was well laid out and it was a very easy procedure to follow, and everything was done very efficiently,” he explained.

The process of the actual donation was described by Michael as very quick with little fuss or trouble.

“Seeing her afterwards did not distress the family at all. They were hardly aware anything had happened,” he said.

Michael also spoke of the importance of people becoming donors, like his mother.