Ending Alzheimer’s One Step at a Time
Research into the causes and potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease has been as complicated as the disease itself. Patti Davis borrowed the phrase “The Long Goodbye” in describing the decline of her presidential father, and for good reason: This horrible affliction robs families of their dearest members with agonizing progression and frustration. And for researchers, it has for over a century hidden behind a shroud of mystery that is due partly to the complex nature [...]
Results of IGIV for Alzheimer’s Study Disappointing But Not Discouraging
The first results from the GAP study of Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IGIV) for Alzheimer’s disease were just announced and are disappointing but not entirely discouraging. The primary results are clear — IGIV did not significantly slow decline of thinking abilities or preserve daily function in a large group of Alzheimer’s patients when compared to an inactive placebo. However, some positive responses were seen in certain subgroups of the participants who received IGIV. The GAP study was [...]
Taking Care of You – Dealing with Caregiver Guilt
Caregiving can be extremely rewarding, but all caregivers will eventually feel some degree of frustration, anger and guilt. These are all normal emotional responses to an incredibly emotional journey. As a caregiver, you may feel frustrated and angry at your chaotic life, or your lack of control over the disease’s progression. Anger often evolves into guilt. You may feel like there isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel, and have the guilty thought, “how much [...]
76 Miles, 16 Hours and a Commitment to End Alzheimer’s
After some crazy back and forth emails tossing around ideas, it was decided. We would run for an hour at a time on a high school track, alternating shifts for the entire 16 hours of daylight on the longest day of the year. Why? As a way of turning our passion for running into a fundraiser for The Longest Day – a sunrise-to-sunset event to raise funds and awareness for Alzheimer’s care, support and research. [...]
A Return Trip to Washington D.C., This Time as an Alzheimer’s Advocate
Over the course of my professional career as a space scientist (from 1966 to 2002), I probably visited the Washington, D.C. area 14 or 15 times every year. These trips averaged two or three days, visiting various government agencies involved in funding scientific research from Greenbelt, Maryland to Alexandria, Virginia and beyond. However, the only time that I can remember that I visited the Capitol Building was as a seventh grader on a spring school [...]
Where We Are Today in Alzheimer’s Research: A Year in Review
One year closes and another begins. Here are the 2012 Alzheimer’s disease research highlights, as well as new directions that we will likely be heading during 2013. Genetic Insights: Among the important discoveries of 2012 was the identification of a genetic mutation that protects people from developing Alzheimer’s disease. The mutation in Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) significantly decreases the amount of beta-amyloid a person makes (about 40 percent), conferring a resistance to developing Alzheimer’s. Just to review, all neurons secrete APP, and [...]
The Caregiver Solution to New Year’s Resolutions
One of the things I hate about New Year’s Resolutions is they seem to be about taking away something rather than giving yourself something. I suppose one could argue if you lose weight with more exercise and eating more nutritiously you are giving yourself a longer, healthier life. But when our brains think of resolutions as punishment rather than pleasure, it’s hard to maintain them. For caregivers, resolutions are even harder since you are typically [...]
Choosing to Accept the Changes Dementia Brings
Choice is a luxury and usually a gift. As a caregiver to a loved one, the absence of choice is a difficult concept to grasp when you are accustomed to the illusion of choice and control in your life. It is earth- shaking to have circumstance thrust upon you, pushing you towards decisions that may go against your grain. – Tania Richard My mother was diagnosed with dementia in the summer of 2011. At the [...]
How Caregivers Can Use Pet Therapy to Care for Their Loved One
My favorite cartoonist, the late Charles Schulz of Peanuts fame, wrote that, “Happiness is a warm puppy.” I wonder if he knew that happiness is just the start when it comes to enhancing the lives of older loved ones in nursing homes or assisted living, terminal patients such as those suffering from AIDS, children with special needs and even caregivers looking to improve their own health. Known as Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), there is a growing [...]
Caregivers Who Are Changing the Game
Girls on the Gridiron – Taking the Fight Against Alzheimer’s to the Field People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society. – Vince Lombardi It is officially fall and fall means football season – fans, cheerleaders, Friday night lights, afternoon tailgaters, Monday Night Football. When we think of football – we think of the gladiators of the gridiron. However, one of the best football [...]
It was a perfect summer evening. The sun was just starting to go down and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I was home from college on a visit to introduce my parents to my new boyfriend (my now husband). We sat on our patio, enjoying our evening together. My father, Giovanni, summoned me into the kitchen through the window overlooking the patio. I excused myself, assuming he wanted some help in preparing the [...]
This past holiday season, I had the pleasure of appearing as Mrs. Cratchit in “A Christmas Carol” at The Goodman Theatre. On several occasions I thought how much my mother would have loved to see me in it. Before I met my husband, my mother was my biggest fan. When I say my mother would have loved to see the show, I mean the mother who raised me and was always there for me in [...]
Alzheimer’s disease has been the greatest heartbreak of my life. I lost my mother to Alzheimer’s disease. And then, my father. I tell their story, because they can’t. I tell their story in hopes that future generations will not have the same story to tell. Today, I am surrounded by fellow advocates at the 25th annual Alzheimer’s Association Advocacy Forum – my thirteenth. We are the voice of many, with one message: The time to [...]
Sometimes I feel like I’m standing with a crowd of people on a railroad track and there’s a freight train coming. I can hear a whistle in the distance, but everybody else is chatting about the weather or shrugging their shoulders. They are saying things like, “It sure would be terrible to get stuck on this track when the train comes,” or worse, “I don’t hear anything.” The train continues to get closer—but no one [...]
“This Is Our Life” is the final line of a production entitled “Resurrection” that my husband Steve and I have been a part of with our church singing group for the past 17 years. During the last song, everyone in the congregation holds a candle that is lit from a single candle that stands alone on the altar. As each candle is lit, we watch the church go from dark to light. The first year we performed, a small group of us got together and pitched in—sewing costumes, rehearsing and doing whatever [...]
