Dreaming Lights amidst the Amyloid Shadows

Vidisha Chadachan

I recall his voice, so firm and clear,
A beacon of love that held me dear.
But sentences broke, the names slipped away,
His feelings faded by the end of the day.

Doctors warned of plaques that spread,
Connections the neurons seem to dread.
A carving of loss, a shared distress,
A mournful state of ceaselessness.

The rope of fear, twists beneath my skin,
A silent inheritance, binds the panic within.
The DNA hints at what might unfold,
APOE-ε4, a code in chilling cold.

Beneath the veil, lies a hidden pathway,
A nocturnal art, our body holds sway.
The Glymphatic stream, a cleansing gleam,
That guards the halls, where memories dream.

When in REM phase, the mind makes mends,
Delta waves cleanse where thought descends.
The amyloid plaques drift and float away,
If only I let the darkness have its way.

But the tension pulls with a cruel command,
The voice within says I take my stand.
An hour more, borrowed from the night,
Could cost tomorrow, cut from my own light.

I wonder if he too traded with the night,
Ignoring the darkness for the lure of light.
Or was it just luck, a roll of genetic dice,
That paid this devastating price?

So now I surrender with a humble plea,
That sleep will stand as a shield for me.
The glial cell guardians with lanterns bright,
Cleaning my pathways in the depth of night.

Though fragile the thread, I have come to know,
The fabric of self can be rewoven, slow,
Every hour of sleep has the power to mend,
What the ancestral code threatens to end.

I honour the dark, its healing breath,
To grant the night its rightful depth,
For I carry his anguish, his sorrow face,
I will not let this binding thread erase.

The Science

This poem explores the tension between genetic risk and the protective role of sleep in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Individuals with a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s disease face significant stress from the fear of developing the disease. They carry the apolipoprotein E (APOE-ε4) allele, a major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease linked to increased amyloid-β deposition in the brain and the resulting disruption of neuronal repair. However, recent studies have highlighted that a good amount of quality sleep provides a vital defence. It facilitates the Glymphatic clearance of amyloid-β and other toxins accumulated during the daytime. The poem shares this interplay, weaving a personal family history with these biological processes, reflecting on how sleep can act as a modifiable defence to reshape the stage set by the risk associated with the ancestral code.

The Poet

Vidisha Chadachan is a high school student from Singapore with a strong interest in neuroscience, community health, and the intersection of science and creative writing. Inspired by her grandfather’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease, Vidisha explores how scientific understanding can be expressed through poetry to make complex ideas accessible and emotionally resonant. She hopes to pursue further studies in neuroscience and medicine while continuing to use poetry writing as a bridge between science and society.

Next poem: i remember by Vasiliki Vita