Nuns in aging study leaving their brains behind-After major Alzheimer's findings, research will end with final sacrifice

WILTON, Conn. - When Sister Kathleen Treanor's soul ascends to heaven, her brain will go to a less ethereal realm: a medical lab in Kentucky.

Two decades ago, Sister Treanor and 677 other members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame granted a young researcher's request to test them each year in order to track the progression of Alzheimer's disease and other age-related brain disorders.

The 61 surviving nuns recently completed their last round of intellectual and physical tests for the Nun Study, one of the world's most comprehensive neurological research projects.
One final sacrifice remains: When they die, their brains will be taken for further study, joining a collection of hundreds of other brains donated by the the nuns who died before them.

Sister Treanor, a 93-year-old former school principal who is one of the last of the volunteers at a Wilton convent, looks at her participation as service, not sacrifice.

"I've tried to do good while I'm alive, and I liked the idea that I could do something good after death," she said.

With the modesty of their calling, the nuns attribute the study's success to researcher Dr. David Snowdon, downplaying their own countless hours of interviews and testing over the decades.

"I never minded having my brain checked out. It kept me out of trouble," said 96-year-old Sister Antoine Daniel.