I was just talking about my grandpa yesterday....

My Maternal grandfather died before my mom graduated from College, I believe.  Grandma was in her mid 40's.  I therefore, never met him.  He was a master carpenter, I'm told but I really don't know much about him.  He died of what I've always equated to Mad Cow disease, and it is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. I've heard the name of the disease only a few times from my Mom and I've never seen anything about it.  But today I read an article about someone who had just died of the same disease and was able to find out more information.  It's interesting, perhaps in a slightly morbid way.  This is the article from the National Institute of Neurological disorders and strokes about Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease  http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cjd/detail_cjd.htm.
Because of this disease, no one in our maternal line is supposed to give blood.  There doesn't seem to be any evidence that this was a hereditary form of the disease but the blood banks would rather be safe than sorry.  It doesn't matter too much to me, because my veins don't cooperate with blood draws anyway, but I know it disappoints my mom.  To be honest, I'm not sure anyone besides mom and I are familiar with this particular nuance of the disease.