“This place saved our lives” – Fresno residents among the first to try a new Alzheimer’s drug

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — Several people in Fresno were among the first in the country to receive a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

Today, patients are very optimistic that this treatment can help improve their memory.

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The FDA only approved the drug “Kisunla” at the beginning of July.

Some people here in Fresno were part of the clinical trials.

A man tells FOX26 that he noticed a significant improvement in his wife’s memory.

“This is the greatest place in the world because their clarity and memory have improved,” said Chance McInnerney.

He says his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s three years ago.

He noticed the signs immediately because his mother also suffered from the disease.

“Deep down I knew I just couldn’t believe it would happen again to my mother and then my wife,” McInnerney said.

When they heard about a new clinical trial for a drug called Kisunla being offered at the Neuro Pain Medical Center in Fresno, they immediately signed up, according to McInnerney.

“It will be different, because my mother could not walk, now we have a way,” he said.

Now his wife Suzie says she notices a difference after 18 months of taking Kisunla.

“I feel a lot clearer,” said Suzie McInnerney. “I was really foggy and I was definitely forgetting things, so I had to always take my notepad or my planner and write things down when something was coming up. I still have my calendar.”

Her husband said he now had a reason to live.

There’s no life after her… there’s nothing after she’s gone,” McInnerney said. “That’s why she saved my life. This place saved our lives and my children’s lives.”

Giving hope to people like Karen Selph.

She says her father had Alzheimer’s. When she first noticed signs of the disease, “I had problems with short-term memory and lost a lot of things,” she said. “That’s when I realized I was probably going to go down that path.”

She volunteered for the program.

She received her first injection on Monday.

“There are different ways, and there are drugs that work to some extent, but the only way to improve the situation is if people are willing to do what we do.”

The treating physician says this is crucial for patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s symptoms.