Dave Engels

Mailing Address:

1589 S. Ivy St. #105
Canby, OR 97013

Phone: 503 266-1114

Dave Engels
daengels@hotmail.com

Spouse: Sue is the finance officer for the City of Aurora, OR.

Kids:

Jenny and her husband Doug Holdt, June 1, 2003

Jennifer, 27, is a research associate working on a doctorate in geology/geophysics. She studies arctic ice flows. She married Doug Holdt June1, 2003 in Hawaii. They live in Corvallis, OR.

Mary 25, received a masters degree in geology/geophysics from the University of Hawaii in August, 2003. She studied fossilized coral reefs. She does marine geology consulting work in Hawaii.

September 26, 2004 Update

I received word from my doctors a couple of weeks ago that the GDNF study was being shut down. The company testing the medicine and the FDA were both concerned about two things: five of the participants had developed antibodies to the GDNF factor; and there were some troubling results in parallel studies in laboratory animals being run at the same time. Naturally I'm disappointed, but there were no promises made going in. The study was highly experimental. Sometime in the next few months I'll have surgery to remove the distribution system - pumps, tubing and catheters. It should be far less complicated and take less time than the surgery to put them in.

I have really appreciated the interest, concern and good wishes that so many of you have expressed. We are looking forward to seeing all of you at the next reunion--or sooner.

August 9, 2004 Update

Here are some pictures from my "smoke jumping" past. They were taken in the late 1960's over the Boise National Forest.

Dave & Sue on their 35th wedding anniversary - June 3, 2002

I attended the University of Idaho on and off until graduating with a degree in history in 1970.

I met my wife Sue at UI and we were married in June, 1967. Got a law degree from UI in 1973.

Firefighting was a big part of my life starting in high school. I worked on a state crew the summer of 1963. After that it was two summers on a hot shot crew, four seasons (1966-69) as a smokejumper in Idaho City, and three seasons (1971-73) as a jumper for the BLM in Fairbanks. It was hard to do, but eventually I gave up firefighting and began to practice law in Anchorage.

After three years, I was lured to Washington, D.C. where I worked for the U.S. Department of Energy for eight years. I transferred to a job with a U.S. Department of Justice field office in Portland, OR, so that we could move back to the Northwest. After three years with Justice, I went back to private practice in Portland. I was a partner in a law firm in Portland when I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1996. I have been retired for several years now.

I spend some of my time being a participant in medical studies at the Parkinson's Research Center at Oregon Health Sciences University.

I am now one of 34 people in the world (some in North America, some in Europe) participating in what's known as the GDNF study. In November 2003 I had six and a half hours of surgery to install two catheters to an area of my brain called the putamen. The catheters are connected by tubing inside my body to computerized infusion pumps in my abdomen. This distribution system is capable of delivering a steady drip of solution to the putamen. Half the participants in the study are getting a human growth factor in solution, and the other half are getting saline solution (placebo). Neither the patients nor the doctors know who is getting what. The hope is that the growth factor will stimulate dormant cells in the putamen to produce dopamine -- in short supply when one has Parkinson's. This first double blinded phase of the study lasts six months. The pumps are refilled every four weeks.

One June 2, I start into the open label phase of the study which lasts two years. In this phase all the participants get the growth factor. At this point I can't tell what I've been getting, but there do seem to be some small signs of improvement. By the time of the reunion the first phase of the study will likely have been "unblinded" and I should know which group I was in.

The surgery wasn't much fun, but I am grateful to have a chance to participate in the study. My doctors do a great job of medication management for my Parkinson's symptoms. But the study drug has the potential to address the disease itself.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you at the reunion.