I have faced many battles in my life. I served in Vietnam as a Marine Corps corporal. I also completed four tours in Iraq in the U.S. Army, and four of my sons served in Iraq, too. But all my battles have not been while serving in the military. My mother passed away from Alzheimer’s disease. I lost my son, Dennis Jr., in a motorcycle accident. And now, I am facing my own battle with [...]
Today is the longest day of the year — and as evening sets, Alzheimer’s advocates across the globe are pushing themselves to the finish line of a 16-hour endurance relay to raise awareness and funds for the fight against Alzheimer’s. This event, Alzheimer’s Association The Longest Day™, and the dedication it requires holds such significance for those who have been affected by Alzheimer’s disease. It symbolizes the endurance, love, patience and strength it takes to [...]
In 2008, at the age of 62, I was diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease (also known as early-onset Alzheimer’s). Not long after, I retired after serving 23 years as the President/CEO of the Private Industry Council (PIC) of San Luis Obispo County. While I thought I was functioning well, there were ample signs a few years before, indicating not all was necessarily right with my health. Part of me recognized this, while another part of [...]
I’m Valerie Ferrero, wife, mother and care partner. My husband Lee was diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer’s (also known as early-onset Alzheimer’s) in November 2008. This is the beginning of my story….. It is difficult to know what action to take, what plans to make, or what the future holds when you don’t have the answer to the “elephant in the room.” It took more than seven years for us to get Lee’s diagnosis of younger-onset [...]
My mother had Alzheimer’s disease, and what it did to her was just terrible. Her mother had it too. A few years ago, my wife, a retired nurse, noticed that I was having short-term memory problems. When I got lost trying to find my way around a familiar hospital campus, we decided that I needed to be medically evaluated. That was in 2010, and I was diagnosed with an “early-stage” memory problem. A year later, [...]
November is National Family Caregiver Month, and I wanted to share some personal thoughts on the subject of caregivers. I was a caregiver for my father, who passed away from Alzheimer’s 15 years ago, and I was diagnosed with the disease two-and -a-half years ago. The past. It has been almost 25 years since my father started to exhibit the signs of dementia. Back in those days, Alzheimer’s was not well- known by doctors [...]
