WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A grandmother's love is like no other, but what happens when doctors say "grandma is on her way to a last goodbye and there is no way they can help."
Over ten years ago, that happened to Dr. Miranda Orr and now, she's creating the cure that her grandma needed, but doctor's couldn't provide.
"I didn't know being a scientist was a job or a career," Orr said. "Where I grew up, we don't know scientists."
Her grandmother's health issues motivated her.
"When I was in high school, my maternal grandma started losing her memory and had behavioral changes that progressively got worse," Orr said.
Doctors diagnosed Orr's grandmother with Alzheimer's disease.
"So I grew up in northeastern Montana and we had really long winters so we had a lot of time playing cards with the family," Orr said. "When I noticed there were major problems happening with grandma was when she wasn't really engaged in playing cards anymore."
This was a hard reality for Dr. Orr to face.
"With my grandma, they had no treatment options and I really had a hard time wrapping my head around that," Orr said. "How could there be nothing to give her?"
Dr. Orr wants to go beyond treatment. Her goal is to eradicate Alzheimer's.
"My advisor said 'well do you want to take care of patients with Alzheimer’s disease or do you want to find a cure?'" Orr said. "I said 'I want to find a cure.'"
That brings us to this lab which is the place where the science happens.
“I discovered that one of the fundamental cellular processes that happens in all of our cells and tissues as we get older really is contributing to Alzheimer’s disease and so that is what all of the projects in my lab are focused on," Orr said. "We have a clinical trial where we are targeting aging to treat Alzheimer’s disease.”
As Dr. Orr still searches for the cure, she is at peace knowing she is on the right track.
"My blood pressure drops when I come into my lab." Orr said. "This is where I want to be. This is where I know I should be."