As I continue reading in my local newspaper the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette series on Alzheimer’s , The focus of this piece tended more towards the increasing trend of early-onset Alzheimer’s. One of the more poignant lines in the story is that individuals with early-onset Alzheimer’s “…are people who are not dying from Alzheimer's, but living with Alzheimer's”.
When Fox Learning Systems created our series of courses on Caring for Alzheimer’s and Dementia we met a man who started showing signs of dementia in his mid 40’s. He and his family were completely devastated by the disease. Here was a extremely intelligent man, much like the one mentioned in this article, who built his own home with his own two hands, who loved his work, his family and his hobbies. By the age of 55, he was only a shell of his original self. This man eventually passed away as a result of the disease but some of the most emotional video we ever captured were some of the comments by his wife Joan. She told us many of the stories of his life, and the gradual decline of his health. Joan told us she didn’t “love” him anymore because he was not anyone who she knew. He could no longer talk, no longer recognized her or their children. But she still felt tremendous compassion and loyalty for him and visited him daily in the nursing home. She and her family were heartsick watching as their father wasted away. We know that with every person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s there is a family out there whose hearts are broken by this devastating disease.
By educating caregivers now and in the next decade we will be more able to equip the people we depend on for this essential care. There are reasons to be hopeful that there is forward progress in the medical field. But it is prudent to be prepared for what could be an elder care epidemic in just a couple years.
When Fox Learning Systems created our series of courses on Caring for Alzheimer’s and Dementia we met a man who started showing signs of dementia in his mid 40’s. He and his family were completely devastated by the disease. Here was a extremely intelligent man, much like the one mentioned in this article, who built his own home with his own two hands, who loved his work, his family and his hobbies. By the age of 55, he was only a shell of his original self. This man eventually passed away as a result of the disease but some of the most emotional video we ever captured were some of the comments by his wife Joan. She told us many of the stories of his life, and the gradual decline of his health. Joan told us she didn’t “love” him anymore because he was not anyone who she knew. He could no longer talk, no longer recognized her or their children. But she still felt tremendous compassion and loyalty for him and visited him daily in the nursing home. She and her family were heartsick watching as their father wasted away. We know that with every person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s there is a family out there whose hearts are broken by this devastating disease.
By educating caregivers now and in the next decade we will be more able to equip the people we depend on for this essential care. There are reasons to be hopeful that there is forward progress in the medical field. But it is prudent to be prepared for what could be an elder care epidemic in just a couple years.
