In December, retired electrician Joe Walsh, 79, became the first Alzheimer's patient to try a nasal spray used to treat other neurological diseases.

Walsh, of Quincy, started having trouble recalling words and having conversations about five years ago. He'd mix up words and sometimes wouldn't make sense. The condition, called aphasia, is tied to his moderate Alzheimer's, which he was diagnosed with in 2019. People associate Alzheimer's with dementia, but aphasia is "more common than gets appreciated," said Seth Gale, Walsh's neurologist.

For the past nine weeks, Walsh has been receiving the nasal spray treatment, called Foralumab, after the FDA approved it for just one Alzheimer's patient in the US. It's giving his wife and two children hope.

"I know there's a break right around the corner, and I'm hoping like heck it's this drug," Karen Walsh, 65, said Tuesday.

Doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital applied to the FDA for Walsh's approval, and the agency chose him without knowing his identity. There's already evidence the spray could help stop the advance of some forms of multiple sclerosis, said Gale, an investigator at the Center for Alzheimer's Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women's.

In Walsh's case, doctors will see whether the drug diminishes the activity of cells causing inflammation in the brain, a key factor in the disease's progression, Gale said.

Researchers will analyze Walsh's brain activity in March to see if the drug is having an impact by "tamping down" further spread of his Alzheimer's, Gale said. They will also test to see if an Alzheimer's patient can "tolerate" the use of the nasal spray over a 6-month regimen. For now, he added, "the jury's out." Walsh's speech may not improve as part of treatment.

Two Alzheimer's drugs released in the past 18 months aren't available to Walsh, as someone with moderately advanced progression, Gale said. Those drugs, Lecanemab and Donanemab, made headlines because they have a "disease-modifying effect," but they're only available to people with mild Alzheimer's.

Brigham and Women's hopes to launch an official clinical trial for Foralumab "maybe later in 2025," Gale said, and it would be for patients with mild Alzheimer's, allowing for more effective analyses of symptoms, Gale said.

"It's like studying heart disease before a heart attack happens," he said.

Walsh's wife said the spray, which Joe takes three times per week, makes the family feel as if they have agency against a ruthless disease that affects millions of Americans. Walsh is the first to take the spray, but preliminary results will inform future treatment, his wife said.

"I feel like at least we're taking action, we're not just sitting back living day to day, we're actually doing something; whether Joe sees results, we're helping others," Karen Walsh said.

The couple's extended family, who don't see Joe daily, have told his wife they've noticed changes in his behavior over the past nearly three months.

"They think he's kind of more in tune and aware of things than he had been," she said.

That came through most clearly during a group outing to the theaters to see "Wicked." Joe was not a fan of the 2.5-hour-long musical movie adaptation, his wife said.

"He looked over at me and said, 'Let's go,'" Karen said. "Later I looked over at him and he rolled his eyes; that seemed like a positive."

In a brief phone conversation, Joe Walsh indicated he is looking forward to a Valentine's dinner with his wife at The Reel House at Quincy's Marina Bay. Last week, the family also enjoyed a trip to visit their son in New York City, where they attended an NHL game between the Bruins and the Rangers.