Look on bright side, Jones left us his brain

Monty Python comedian who suffered from rare form of dementia made donation in aid of research

IN LIFE Terry Jones, the Monty Python comedian, gave the gift of laughter to the nation. In death, he has given even more – by donating his brain to science to help research into the dementia that marked his final years.

Jones’s family confirmed this week that his brain had been added to the bank at the Institute of Neurology, part of University College London, where he was treated after his diagnosis in 2015 with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

He registered as a donor after discussions with his doctor and his family, and the procedure was performed shortly after his death on Tuesday, aged 77.

The gesture will help doctors to conduct further research into FTD, a relatively rare form of dementia which affects the areas of the brain that con

‘He would stop people and tell them, I’ve got dementia, you know. My frontal brain lobe has absconded’

trol speech and understanding of language.

“Studying brain tissue helps to advance our understanding of these conditions. Donation is not that common and it is incredibly valuable,” said Prof Thomas Warner, director of the Queen Square Brain Bank at UCL, which accepts 80 to 100 brains each year.

“It is a big decision and it never ceases to surprise me how many people are happy to do this. Usually it takes a couple of discussions before people make a decision. We have doctors and team members specially trained to guide people through the consent process.”

Jones began showing symptoms of dementia in 2014, when he was unable to remember all of his lines for Monty Python’s highly acclaimed reunion shows at the O2 in London.

A year later he was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia, a form of FTD.

Before he lost the power of speech

Jones was open about his diagnosis. Sir Michael Palin, his close friend and fellow Python, recalled: “The thing that struck me was how Terry reacted to his diagnosis. He was very matter of fact about it and would stop people in the street and tell them, ‘I’ve got dementia, you know. My frontal brain lobe has absconded.’ He knew exactly what was affecting him and he wanted to share that knowledge because that is the way that Terry is.” Jones and his wife, Anna Soderstrom, gave an interview in 2017 to raise awareness of the condition as part of a fundraising campaign that eventually raised more than £600,000.

The Queen Square Brain Bank archive is used for research into Parkinson’s disease as well as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

There are 10 brain banks in the UK and donors must join a register. Prof Warner said: “Quite often, they are seen early on when they still have the capacity to consent. Sometimes the decision is made later by the family if next of kin feel that is what the person would have wanted – we can collect that brain.

“It needs to be done within a couple of days. Families usually let us know when the time is near, or when death has just happened.” Queen Square has an on-call team that can be contacted at any time to inform them that a loved one has died. Prof Warner said: “With technology now we can learn about what is going on in individual cells. We also make sure that the diagnosis in life was correct.” Some of the brain tissue from the UCL bank is sent around the world to be studied by researchers.

Prof Warner said his team received more offers of brain donation than it can afford to accept.

“It is quite a complex and expensive process. It would be lovely to be in a situation to [accept them all] but we would go under.

“But we are always extremely grateful to the people and their relatives who do this.”