Retired Santa Rosa teacher diagnosed with rare, fatal neurodegenerative disease
The Press Democrat • • health
Key Points:
- Carol Kovatch, a former Spanish teacher at Rincon Valley Middle School in Santa Rosa, has been diagnosed with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a rare and fatal neurodegenerative illness, after months of medical tests.
- Kovatch, 64, began experiencing severe insomnia, heart and blood pressure issues, and other symptoms in recent months, leading to multiple emergency room visits before the diagnosis was confirmed via brain MRI.
- Sporadic CJD, which affects mainly people over 60, progresses rapidly with symptoms like insomnia, dementia, and muscle spasms, and is always fatal; Kovatch’s family has arranged hospice care to keep her comfortable in her remaining months.
- Kovatch is remembered fondly by
