100 Moments

10:10 10.10: Anatomy of a Moment

S Building
Cleveland Clinic main campus

Cleveland
10:10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time

In Exam Room 15, under the watchful eye of nurse practitioner Emily Bain, Bonnie Festi holds her arms out straight. A kinesia sensor on her finger will detect tremors. She remains still for the 15 seconds required for the test — barely a blink in the overall scheme of the Cleveland Clinic Brain Study, an unprecedented effort to analyze 20,000 healthy individuals over 20 years to uncover the silent changes that precede neurological disease. 

On any given day, Emily might see as many as six study participants. “I love the brain,” she says. “It’s the most complex organ in the human body.” Through MRIs, sleep studies and a battery of assessments, the study is searching for early warning signs of neurodegeneration. 

Bonnie is happy to take part, even if it entails a two-day commitment for in-person visits such as this and a 120-mile round-trip drive. Now retired, she enjoyed a successful career in project management, consulting across the country and around the world. 

Her parents and many of her relatives lived well into their 90s. Stayed sharp until the end, too. Longevity and mental acuity run in her family, for the most part.

Then there was Kathyleen. Bonnie’s older sister was like a second mother to her. She died of glioblastoma more than 30 years ago, in the prime of her life. 

For Bonnie, participating in the study is both a tribute to her sister’s memory and an investment in our future understanding of the brain. “If I can do anything to help,” she says, “I’ll do it.” 

Photograph by Cody York