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Photos: ‘I want to get well,’ Alzheimer’s patient says

Before surgery, Gloria Lucio, 57, who has Alzheimer's, gets a hug and kiss from her son, Valentin, 18, as her husband, Don Jones, looks on. She is part of a clinical trial at UCLA Medical Center in which holes were drilled in her skull and either an experimental drug or placebo was injected into her brain.

Before surgery, Gloria Lucio, 57, who has Alzheimer’s, gets a hug and kiss from her son, Valentin, 18, as her husband, Don Jones, looks on. She is part of a clinical trial at UCLA Medical Center in which holes were drilled in her skull and either an experimental drug or placebo was injected into her brain.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Prepping for surgery

Nurses prepare Lucio for surgery. The willingness to try the procedure symbolizes the desperation in the field of dementia treatment.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Chat with the doctor

Lucio and her husband listen to her neurosurgeon, Dr. Antonio De Salles, who will perform the surgery. The Alzheimer’s Assn. recently estimated that cases of the neurological disease, now affecting about 5 million Americans, will more than double in the next 40 years.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Comfort

Don Jones comforts his son as his wife prepares for surgery. “I want to get well,” Lucio said a few days before the surgery. “I want my brain to be healthy. But I’m scared.”  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Wheeled away

With De Salles at her side, Gloria Lucio is rolled to surgery. “If we didn’t do this, what would be the other choice?” her husband had told her.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Back home

At their home in Pasadena, Don Jones says his wife is “doing much better.” They won’t know for two years whether Lucio received the drug, but they’re optimistic.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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