"...But this day was different. It marked what would have been my beloved father’s 90th birthday. He’s been gone 10 years now, after a 13-year unwinnable battle with Alzheimer’s. They say time heals all wounds, but sometimes you wonder. It wasn’t supposed to end this way for Dad. He was an athletic, strapping, fit, bright and brilliant man who easily could still be with us. We had plans to experience the road together. There would be football weekends, basketball boondoggles and countless golf trips. Always golf."
Posts published in “Personal Story”
VIDEO: "Maria Shriver takes on the deadly disease that has affected her family along with 5 million who are Americans suffering from it. Maria shares her fight against the illness and gives us her insight and tells us what she is doing as an advocate."
"My first car got 11 miles per gallon. It weighed two and a half tons. Cars like this inspired the expression “big as a Buick.” My friends and I called it, affectionately, The Lead Sled. I once parked The Lead Sled at a train station in East Chicago, Ind., and didn’t even bother locking it up. Who would steal The Lead Sled? But what thieves might not consider, vandals could not resist. Returning from the Loop way past witching hour, I found The Lead Sled void of all glass: windshields, windows, headlights, all smashed. Stunned, I phoned my dad. He asked no questions. He laid no blame. 'I’m on my way,' he said."
"The second movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Seventh Symphony begins with a minor-key rhythm in the cellos. It sounds like a background rhythm, which it becomes when the violins introduce a second, soaring and entirely different melody. One half the Baltimore Symphony is on stage playing one thing; the other half, another. Next to me, my wife, Carol, leans forward and smiles. Beethoven must have been in a good mood when wrote this, perhaps a bit nostalgic, whimsical. Carol appears to appreciate what he was doing. That surprises me. Carol understands very little these days. Sixty-nine years old, she is six years into early onset Alzheimer's disease, halfway through what former President Ronald Reagan, who also had Alzheimer's, called "the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life.""
Tony Wagoner never expected to become a round-the-clock caregiver, but in his words, "You never know what's going to happen in life." Tony Wagoner and his wife, Pat Wagoner, moved to Central Florida from North Carolina in 1979 and never looked back. After he retired in 2012, Tony and Pat Wagoner took a trip to Yellowstone National Park, the beginning of what was expected to be new chapter filled with adventure. He said that was their last trip together. "Alzheimer's disease, saw the beginnings of it in about 2012 with some memory issues, forgetting how to be able to adjust the thermostat, she started having some issues with the stove," Tony Wagoner said. Pat Wagoner's health began to decline, and by 2015 she was hospitalized and officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. By September 2016, Pat Wagoner needed 24-hour care and her husband became her full-time caregiver. "I said, 'Don't you worry, I'm going to take care of you,' I said, 'We're going to see this thing through right here in this house,' and I still say that," Tony Wagoner said.
For 11 years I pleaded with my challenging elderly father to allow a caregiver to help him with my ailing mother, but he always insisted on taking care of her himself. Every caregiver I went ahead and hired soon sighed in exasperation, “Jacqueline, I just can’t work with your father. His temper is impossible to handle and he’s not going to accept help until he’s on his knees himself.” When my father’s inability to continue to care for my mother nearly resulted in her death, I stepped in despite his very loud protests. It was so heart-wrenching to have my once-adoring father be so loving one minute and then some trivial little thing would set him off and he’d call me nasty names and throw me out of the house the next.
When Jos� Belardo was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at the age of 50, his wife, Elaine's first thoughts were of loss and hopelessness. Her thoughts of despair took her straight to the end of what she believed would be the disease process. And she found herself obsessing about what she already knew about the disease — the suffering, stress and sadness of watching a loved one lose themselves without hope of finding their way back.
Juliette Bradley, who is the Communications Director for the Alzheimer's Association - Heart of America Chapter makes sure that Alzheimer’s patients and their families also know there is hope — and help. She says although the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is overwhelming for most people, the Heart of America Chapter is here to help anyone who is in the midst of an Alzheimer's journey.
A 52-year-old courier from Chengdu, Sichuan province, China is winning the hearts of netizens for his filial piety for always bringing his 92-year-old mother to work every single day.
Cai Yujun, a delivery man, has been caring for his mother, Yang Suxiu, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease seven years ago, according to The Cover via CGTN.
Since it’s unwise to leave his mother alone due to her condition, Cai decided to bring her along in his everyday errands.
This has led Cai to let Yang stay with him every year from January to April as she joins him in his work.
“When we made deliveries to the office building, the security guard often refused to let my mother in.
Her mother’s dementia, like Montana weather, stormed through her home, unbidden and treacherous.
Every part of me hurt for my mom and what I didn’t do for her.”Eventually, the daughter drifted back to sleep.
I was writing about dementia, the cruelty of it, the guilt that I carry about my mom’s death, and my role in it.
She loved me unconditionally, gave me life and more support than a daughter could ever hope for.
They said they would be there for us to manage her end of life care.
Former Yankees left-hander and All-Star Fritz Peterson was so looking forward to coming back to Yankee Stadium in June for Old-Timers’ Day.
Peterson, 76, who overcame prostate cancer years ago, is fighting a new health battle.
“I really wanted to be there for the fans, I was there like seven years ago, but I just can’t make it.
“I was diagnosed last September, but when I say that I don’t even know what year that was,’’ Peterson said.
“It’s sad,’’ he said of his health situation, “but what can you do?’’Fritz Peterson will keep fighting.