Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Initiative | The New York Academy of Sciences

Thanks for including me SSgt (Join to see) . My mother suffered from Alzheimer's Disease for 20+ years since just before 1980. Before she started loosing her mental capabilities she was multi-lingual and could engage in almost any type of conversation. After she started to decline it was hard to watch her realize she was loosing capabilities. After she passed that stage she was calmer but didn't speak much. By the grace of God in 1994 she wandered off from her home in Drexel Hill which is a suburb of Philadelphia and walked 2 miles and was recognized by a policeman I grew up with [I joined the Army in 1974 and left the area]. He remembered who she was and where she lived and took her home. After that she needed to stay in a cyber-lock facility so she wouldn't wander off [my father had a heart transplant in 1992] which was located near northeast Philadelphia. In 2000 I would visit her more often after she was moved to Suburban Maryland an hour or so from where we lived. At one point my wife and I were with and my wife offered her some water in a small disposal cup. She flung the water at my wife who was next to me. We realized she mistook me for her husband, who had died 5 years earlier, and was jealous of my wife. I was with her the early morning that she died on 9/28/2001. I had come by the night before after learning she was getting ready to die since she hadn't eaten anything for a couple days and resisted all food. I sat next to her and stroked her hair and prayer for her while I watched her slowly pass away. Her breathing got slower and eventually I realized she had stopped breathing. Her eyes seem to lose something as she passed in the dim light and they lost their sheen. I sat with her after notifying the staff that she had died. Once she was properly cared for I left for Fort Belvoir to go through my pre-mobilization physical.
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. MAJ David Wallace SGM Mikel Dawson SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT CSM Michael J. Uhlig SMSgt Minister Gerald A. Thomas CMSgt Mark Schubert SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Sgt Joe LaBranche SGT Forrest Stewart SGT John " Mac " McConnell SrA Christopher Wright SPC (Join to see) Kim Bolen RN CCM ACM

Better find a cure soon otherwise not much hope for me.

SSgt (Join to see) thanks for posting, I have a family member with dementia. It will cripple you! Thanks for the awareness, hopefully a cure is in the making around the corner!