One of the world's leading researchers on unresponsive wakefulness will soon be in Edmonton shining a spotlight on the complex condition.
The Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute (NMHI) is hosting a lecture and panel discussion on severe brain injury and unresponsive wakefulness, titled, "Are You Still There?" on March 2. Dr. Adrian Owen, the keynote speaker at the event, is the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging at the University of Western Ontario and has had success in establishing communication with some patients that appear non-responsive following a severe brain injury.
Karim Fouad, co-director of NMHI, is looking forward to starting a public discussion about the condition, of which very little is still known.
"Dr. Owen really is a leader in the field and we are thrilled he is participating," he says. "We also have an intensive care physician, neurologists, a medical ethicist and a family impacted by the condition who will be adding their perspectives to the event. What we're trying to do is look at unresponsive wakefulness from several perspectives. In the end, we want to open minds and raise awareness of how complex this condition really is."
The event is a first for the NMHI and the result of a local family reaching out to the medical community.
"My brother doesn't have a voice right now," says Spenser Brassard. "He's awake, he goes to sleep, but he can't move. It's a very odd thing to see your family member in between worlds.
For the last two years, Spenser's brother, Jesse Lucas, has been in a state of unresponsive wakefulness after a bout of pneumonia became septic. The medical condition caused his heart to stop for three minutes and the subsequent lack of oxygen to his brain caused him to become behaviourally unresponsive.
Brassard, along with the rest of the family, have been extensively looking into treatment options and ways to further research into Jesse's condition ever since. They decided to host a fundraiser to bring awareness to severe brain injury and unresponsive wakefulness, which led them to Karim Fouad and the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute.
"We've been so blessed to meet Dr. Fouad because he's educated us a lot on how little the medical world really knows about the brain, and even less on severe brain injury. We had never even heard of Dr. Owen before this, so to know there is someone discovering consciousness and awareness with patients that can't respond is amazing."
The Lucas family's fundraiser, "A Voice for Jesse", will be an evening of food and music held at Mercer Tavern on March 3. The funds raised from the event will support both NMHI research and help pay for the public lecture.
"The Lucas family is really engaged," says Fouad. "They understand what can happen to a family when a member is severely injured, and they want to do something. I'm deeply impressed by how active they are and their engagement with the issue-beyond just their own problems."
"Right now there's no cure, no treatment and nothing doctors can do. We're not okay with that," says Brassard. "Because my brother can't talk right now, it's like he doesn't have a voice-but that's not the case. We're family. We are his voice and we stick together."
"Are You Still There?" is being held on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 at the Edmonton Clinical Health Academy, room 1-190. The free event is open to the public and will begin at 5 p.m. with a reception to follow.
"A Voice for Jesse" is on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at Mercer Tavern. Tickets are already sold out.