Staring at her golf gear in her garage in Destrehan three years ago, Diane Roussel couldn\u2019t understand why she couldn\u2019t find a pair of gloves.<\/p>\n
She rifled through her golf bag. There were no right-hand gloves. How could she have a dozen left-hand gloves and not a single pair? Her husband found her there, searching.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never had pairs,\u201d he told her, gently. \u201cGolfers wear one glove.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, Roussel knew that. She\u00a0had been a golfer for decades.<\/p>\n
Later that year, her whole extended family celebrated Christmas and her birthday. It was the biggest gathering they\u2019d had as a family to celebrate, \u201cjust an amazing day,\u201d Roussel said.<\/p>\n
Three days later, a friend texted. \u201cHow was your Christmas?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Diane Roussell and her husband, Black, at home in Destrehan on Monday, December 15, 2025. After seeking care for escalating memory lapses, Diane Roussel received a devastating Alzheimer’s diagnosis. She began infusions of Lecanemab, a newly approved drug for Alzheimer’s disease. Thirty-six infusions later, she has seen her biomarkers return to healthy ranges and her cognitive function improve. Her doctor calls it a remission from Alzheimer’s and is previously unheard of. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER<\/p>\n
Roussel couldn\u2019t remember. There \u201cwas just a hole\u201d where the memory should have been. She sought out a doctor to understand what might be wrong. After cognitive testing and a spinal tap, Roussel, then 66, learned she had biological signs of early Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
She pleaded\u00a0with God for it to be something else. \u201cI’d rather you give me every kind of cancer you have in the book than this,\u201d Roussel said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to lose who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there was a sliver of hope. She qualified for a newly approved drug, lecanemab, that was shown to slow down the progression of the disease.<\/p>\n
Eighteen months later, Roussel had a follow-up brain scan. The biomarkers that typically indicate Alzheimer’s had normalized.\u00a0She felt a brain fog lift and hasn\u2019t had any more dramatic losses in memory. In a conversation with her doctor, Dr. James Rini at Ochsner Health, she heard a word rarely associated with the irreversible disease, which for decades has had no treatment shown to alter its course.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemission,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Remission and Alzheimer’s<\/p>\n
Rini described Roussel as an uncommon but instructive case in the transforming fight against Alzheimer’s disease.<\/p>\n
Since it was first identified more than a century ago, Alzheimer\u2019s was viewed as a one-way decline, treated with medications that eased symptoms but did not change its course until the recent approval of anti-amyloid drugs in 2023 and 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roussel is one of a small number of patients treated early enough that both imaging and biomarker evidence of Alzheimer\u2019s pathology have receded to undetectable levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom all objective ways that we have to measure this disease right now \u2014 our serum biomarkers or PET scans or MRIs or cognitive testing \u2014 there is no evidence that it’s there,\u201d Rini said. \u201cIf she came to my clinic right now, I\u2019d say, \u2018You don\u2019t have this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, he knows that Roussel did have it. So he borrowed language from oncology, calling it a partial remission, like you might for stage 4 cancer.<\/p>\n
Rini said this example is not a promise of what is typical for patients, but a glimpse of what may be possible when Alzheimer\u2019s is caught and treated at exactly the right moment, in exactly the right patient.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Diane Roussell and her medical appointment note book on Monday, December 15, 2025. One of the last entries says PET “scan negative” and “remission.” After seeking care for escalating memory lapses, Diane Roussel received a devastating Alzheimer’s diagnosis. She began infusions of Lecanemab, a newly approved drug for Alzheimer’s disease. Thirty-six infusions later, she has seen her biomarkers return to healthy ranges and her cognitive function improve. Her doctor calls it a remission from Alzheimer’s and is previously unheard of. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER<\/p>\n
The promise and limits of Alzheimer’s drugs<\/p>\n
Alzheimer\u2019s is caused by a buildup of abnormal proteins, known as amyloid and tau,\u00a0that slowly disrupt and kill brain cells, breaking the communication networks needed for memory, thinking and daily function.<\/p>\n
Dr. Demetrius Maraganore, a neurologist at Tulane University and LCMC Health, explains it to patients by comparing it to the roots of oak trees and the cement used to patch New Orleans sidewalks.<\/p>\n
Brain cells are shaped like trees, with branching extensions that allow them to communicate. In Alzheimer\u2019s, amyloid accumulates between brain cells, as if cement was poured around the roots of trees to fix sidewalk cracks. If cement is poured at the base of the tree, it weakens the tree, interfering with its ability to receive nutrients.<\/p>\n
As amyloid causes brain cells to weaken, another protein, tau, tangles inside the cells themselves, accelerating their decline. Once those brain cells die, they cannot be replaced.<\/p>\n
Now, two new drugs, lecanemab, and donanemab, which were approved by the FDA in 2023 and 2024, can remove amyloid. They aim to interrupt the chain reaction that leads to cell injury and the spread of tau tangles, which are more closely tied to cognitive decline.<\/p>\n
Lecanemab, sold as Leqembi, is made by Eisai and Biogen. Donanemab, sold as Kisunla, is made by Eli Lilly. The drugs alone cost about $26,000 to $32,000 a year. Medicare covers them for patients with early Alzheimer\u2019s who meet strict criteria, though access can be limited by the need for frequent scans, infusions and specialist care.<\/p>\n
In clinical trials, both drugs slowed cognitive and functional decline in people with very early Alzheimer\u2019s disease. They do not cure Alzheimer\u2019s, do not rebuild damaged brain cells and do not work for everyone.<\/p>\n
There is an extensive screening process for who qualifies for the drug, so only about 5% of those who go through the screening process qualify, said Maraganore. Even in those people, sometimes the drugs simply don\u2019t work. In others, they might barely slow the progression of symptoms.<\/p>\n
Dr. Ronald Petersen, a Mayo Clinic neurologist who directs an Alzheimer\u2019s disease treatment clinic, said it is important for patients to understand that the drugs typically do not end the memory and thinking problems that accompany Alzheimer\u2019s. When they talk to patients about the drugs, they do so with caution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne, these drugs don\u2019t stop the disease,” Petersen said. Two, they don\u2019t make you better, but we do think they slow down the rate of progression.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there could be exceptional cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you get to somebody who has modest amount of amyloid and maybe just a nickel’s worth of tau, that might be the perfect sweet spot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The drugs are the only ones proven to alter the underlying biology of the disease. For decades, Alzheimer’s drugs were targeted at symptoms. And despite debate in the field over the root cause of Alzheimer’s, “the data speak for themselves” for the modest effectiveness of these drugs, Maraganore said.<\/p>\n
‘There’s hope’<\/p>\n
Roussel describes a before-and-after when it comes to the drug treatment: mid-conversation blankness that used to startle her, and a lifting of brain fog. The potential side effects of the drugs \u2014 brain swelling and microbleeds\u00a0\u2014 were worth it for her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I live life big,” said the retired IT manager. She’s got holiday lunches with friends on her schedule, and she’s babysitting her “granddog” this week for her grandson while he’s out of town. She cares for her husband, who had a cascade of health issues around the time she was diagnosed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Holy Water and a picture of Diane Roussell and her husband, Black, on a shelf in their home on Monday, December 15, 2025 in Destrehan. After seeking care for escalating memory lapses, Diane Roussel received a devastating Alzheimer’s diagnosis. She began infusions of Lecanemab, a newly approved drug for Alzheimer’s disease. Thirty-six infusions later, she has seen her biomarkers return to healthy ranges and her cognitive function improve. Her doctor calls it a remission from Alzheimer’s and is previously unheard of. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER<\/p>\n
In addition to the drug, Roussel also changed her lifestyle. She went to a sleep clinic, changed sleep medications and got a CPAP machine, since sleep is shown to be when the brain repairs itself. She shifted her eating toward a Mediterranean-inspired MIND diet, which emphasizes vegetables, whole grains, fish and olive oil. She also changed her cholesterol medication to one less associated with cognitive side effects.<\/p>\n
Under medical supervision, she began taking several supplements. She had always golfed, but added regular walking, aiming for at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week.<\/p>\n
She credits her faith with getting her through treatment and keeping her optimistic. Unlike decades of failed Alzheimer\u2019s drugs, this one arrived at exactly the right moment, just as she received her diagnosis. It gave her hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a little seed I had from the very beginning,\u201d Roussel said. \u201cAnd it just grew and grew.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 12% of Louisiana\u2019s 65-plus population has Alzheimer\u2019s disease, amounting to almost 100,000 people. A lot of them don\u2019t talk about it because of the stigma of the disease. But Roussel sees her experience as carrying a purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was meant to have Alzheimer\u2019s so I could talk about it,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I could tell people they need to get tested, and that real progress is being made.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘A matter of time’<\/p>\n
Roussel, now 69, will transition to a lower-dose maintenance injection designed to prevent amyloid from reaccumulating.<\/p>\n
Long-term answers remain limited.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know if it\u2019s going to come back,\u201d Rini said. \u201cWe monitor closely, because this is essentially ongoing clinical research in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the future is bright for a field that just a few years ago had almost nothing to offer patients. Lecanemab and donanemab have been shown to slow the progression of the disease 27% to 35%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s a place for these drugs,\u201d Maraganore said. \u201cBut I also know that better things are going to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maraganore pointed to an oral drug in development, taken once daily, that he said has shown 50% to 75% slowing of disease progression at one year in clinical trials and is now being reviewed by regulators in Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now we’re peddling in Kitty Hawk trying to fly across the ocean, but soon we’re going to be sitting in first class in jumbo jets,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s just a matter of time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Staring at her golf gear in her garage in Destrehan three years ago, Diane Roussel couldn\u2019t understand why…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[22522,103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-210556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-hardwall","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}