In a moving editorial published in Neurology, Susan Schneider described her late husband Robin Williams’ Lewy body dementia (LBD), calling for researchers to “be inspired to turn Robin’s suffering into something meaningful through your work and wisdom.”

Schneider celebrated her husband’s life and chronicled their year-long experience with the disease. The editorial details Williams’ descent from insomnia and constipation into anxiety, memory loss and confusion—with no diagnosis made until after his death.

Imaging biomarkers are increasingly important in both diagnostic and research imaging of Lewy body dementia. For example; measurements of dopamine transporters on PET can differentiate Lewy body dementia from Alzheimer’s, and functional MRI can show researchers how changes in brain function can cause LBD’s hallucinations.

“I am sure at time the progress has felt painfully slow,” wrote Schneider. “Do not give up. Trust that a cascade of cures and discovery is imminent in all areas of brain disease and you will be a part of making that happen.”

Read more about LBD at the Lewy Body Dementia Association, or follow the link below to read Schneider’s editorial.