Patients and families tied to potential mystery brain disease speak out about neurologist Dr. Marrero
I recently travelled to my hometown of Moncton, N.B., to report on a potentially mysterious brain disease that has people talking and very concerned.
I spent some time with Bonnie Vautour. Her mom Sylvia died this spring and had been part of a cluster of 48 diagnosed with an unknown neurological syndrome. Vautour remembered her mom as being a real spitfire, telling me, “She was so full of life, full of laughter and loved her grandkids. She played baseball almost her entire life and did a lot of stock car racing.”
Vautour’s mom had a rapid decline, initially showing signs of confusion and memory loss. In just months, she was referred to neurologist Dr. Alier Marrero, who included her in the “cluster.” I asked Vautour about Dr. Marrero and she said: “You couldn't ask for better bedside manners. Very, very friendly. Just super. You couldn't ask for a better neurologist.”
Over the course of our investigation, we spoke to many other patients and families about their experience with Dr. Marrero.
Carol Clark, who is 77 and living with the unknown syndrome, said “as far as I’m concerned, he's really my neurologist and will always be my neurologist.”
Steve Ellis, whose 64-year-old father Roger is a patient of Dr. Marrero. He says, “He recognized the trends, and he's the one that did the right thing.”
Staci whose stepdaughter, Gabrielle Cormier, is one of the youngest patients said, “It's really important that we speak for her and we let people know how appreciative she is of Dr. Marrero and his team.”
While patients and their families spoke highly of Dr. Marrero, the government has distanced themselves. Dr. Marrero was not included in briefings by the province on June 3 and again on Oct. 27.
This weeks’ briefing came as neuropathology reports tied to those who died in the cluster were made public.
W5 spoke exclusively to the neuropathologist who wrote those reports, Dr. Gerard Jansen. He told me “our work is to give a diagnosis with as much certainty as we can. And to also say what is not there if we don't find something .”
Dr. Jansen found that all of those he investigated died of normal brain diseases.
He wanted to express this to the families: “I'm not saying that people do not suffer or there is no disease. Absolutely not. These people, all of these eight people, had a disease. It is just that misclassifying them as having a new mysterious disease was not right.”
We asked Dr. Marrero if he had seen the reports and he said, “I have seen some results and would not like to comment on them. They were reviewing their autopsies; so I don't know exactly what is happening.”
For Vautour, she’s just hoping for some closure, and told us finally she expects to receive it this week from Dr. Marrero.
“Mum’s already passed, it’s been over five and a half months and we're just getting word of the autopsy results. To me, it was way too long. Way, way, way, way too long.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Local Spotlight
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
Haida Elder suing Catholic Church and priest, hopes for 'healing and reconciliation'
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.