Two Columbia sisters who lost their father to lewy body dementia (LBD) are raising awareness of the issue and they’ve also mailed more than 1,500 care packages worldwide to educate caregivers and medical professionals about LBD.
Daughter Rebecca Gross Highland tells 939 the Eagle that her father Larry Gross suffered a stroke in 2020 and became violent at times in the ICU. The doctor explained it was lewy body dementia:
“He explained he said it was like having bipolar, schizophrenia and paranoid delusional behavior all wrapped into one with moments of lucidity in between,” Ms. Gross Highland says.
The two sisters have founded the Larry Gross Lewy Body awareness foundation, which recently made a $60,000 gift to support neurology students and neurology research at Mizzou. It’s named for Mr. Gross, who suffered from LBD. Daughter Amy Gross Greenwood praises the many generous donors who made the gift possible:
“Because of the last four years of fundraising, that is how we were able to give $50,000 for research and $10,000 to a neurology scholarship,” Amy Gross Greenwood says.
The foundation has two fundraisers: the June 1 golf tournament at Country Club of Missouri and the Tigers on the Prowl event.