Deanna's Discovery: Chemo brain

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Every day, nearly 90 Hoosiers learn they have cancer. And for many, treatment will involve chemotherapy. While you may be familiar with some of chemo's side effects — hair loss, fatigue, nausea — there's another that you may know nothing about. As 24-Hour News 8 anchor Deanna Dewberry faces her own battle with breast cancer, she discovers chemo often steals more than your hair.

When cancer patients forget things, we all call it chemo brain. Is it a convenient excuse, or is it one of the actual side effects of chemotherapy? I interviewed the Greising family and a leading cancer researcher to find out.

For the Greising foursome, fighting breast cancer is a family affair. As mom Leslie gets one of many tests to learn whether her cancer has spread to lymph nodes and distant organs, her kids Luke and Erin beat the socks of Dad Darrell in Uno. The IU Simon Cancer Center has become a second home of sorts during Leslie's five-year battle against late stage inflammatory breast cancer. And the psychologist and tenured college professor is also battling something else — memory loss.

"I'd just have thoughts that would escape my mind. I'd be chatting with somebody and it would be like, what's that word, and couldn't recall it," said Leslie Greising.

Patients call it chemo brain — words, phrases and memory seemingly stolen by the toxic drugs meant to save our lives. I've noticed it too. But is that short-term memory loss actually caused by chemotherapy? That's the question Leslie's 10-year old daughter Erin decided to explore with her school science project.

"I had 15 people with cancer treatment and 15 people without cancer treatment," Erin Greising explained while showing me her science project.

Using simple words, she tested the memories of those receiving chemotherapy and the control group. She then recorded the results.

"I found out that chemo brain is real," said Erin.

She found that patients who'd had chemotherapy had significant memory loss - 14 percent greater than those who didn’t have chemo. The project has projected the precocious fourth graders to the state competition, having snagged top honors at her school, city and regional science fairs.

And her findings are validated by scientists at IU who have been studying chemo brain for more than a decade. They've scanned patients' brains and seen structural changes in the frontal and temporal lobe following chemotherapy.

"It affects things like not being able to multi-task, not remembering things as easily, and not completing tasks as quickly," said Brenna McDonald, an IU researcher studying the effects of chemotherapy on memory.

McDonald has found the brain improves about a year after treatment is complete. But it doesn't return completely to normal. Researchers at IU are also studying which patients are more likely to develop chemo brain and why.

For Leslie, treatment never ended. She's gotten chemo for five years and can no longer work. But she concentrates not on what she's lost, but instead on all that cancer has brought so clearly into focus — her friends, her faith and her family.

Her daughter Erin says she'd like to be a scientist when she grows up. Asked if she'd like to see her daughter become a cancer researcher, Leslie responded, "I'd like to see her grow up."

That's the hope. And as researchers study ways for patients to retain memory, the Greising family will continue making memories, celebrating each day with mom.