Former area family takes on dreadful disease

The “Carney Boys” grew up in North Washington, moved to Cedar Falls and then spread across the country, but once a year, they reunite for a “brothers weekend.”This year’s event, though, is going to be a little different and a little more serious, for the brothers, and their sisters, are taking on CADASIL, a devastating vascular disorder in the rain that is often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis.And the Carneys have firsthand knowledge of how dreadful the disease is.Their brother, Francis, a 1956 graduate of St. Mary’s Catholic School in North Washington, has watched the disease strike most of his family.“We just knew we had to give Francis some help, some home,” said younger brother Jack, who now lives in Stockton, Mo. “It’s taken such a toll, it’s just one of the hardest things we’ve had to go through as a family.”So this weekend, they will fight back against a disease that causes multiple strokes and TIAs and causes seizures, migraines with aura, dizziness, balance issues, anxiety, depression, and memory decline.— For more on this story, see the July 24 New Hampton Tribune.