The Alzheimer’s Diary
One woman’s experience from caregiver to widow
by
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"The pharmaceutical companies can tell us how much it costs to bring a drug to market. But how do we measure the cost of NOT bringing a drug to the market? Five and a half million Americans and another three million Canadians have Alzheimer's. Their contributions, along with that of their caregivers to our economy, our communities and society, are lost. Can we afford to lose that much human capital?
As to the personal costs, make no mistake. Alzheimer's may be a disease of the brain, but it is paid for in the currency of the heart. For every individual diagnosed, there is a circle of others - partners, family, friends, employers, employees - who are also victims, robbed of memory and relationships. Society now recognizes the caregivers and the burdens they bear. But others too pay the emotional, physical and financial price - the child, who will never know the special bond with a grandparent; sons and daughters bewildered by the need to become parent to their parent; caregivers who give up their lives before the patients do; partners, forced to watch years of love and intimacy, disappear, as if they never were….
"Although Alzheimer's brings in its wake exhaustion and financial stress, the worst, the very worst, is watching that light that animates a human being, go out, bit buy bit, in someone you love.
"Alzheimer's is the one size fits all disease: pumping gas at the local station, sitting in the back of the limo, walking the beat, looking down on it from your terrace, rocket scientist or rock and roller; fit, flabby, alzheimer's makes no distinction."
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About the Book
One who Forgets and One who is Forgotten One in eight over the age of sixty-five and one in three over the age of eighty will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. In her memoir, author Joan Sutton narrates a moving account of her years as caregiver to her husband, noting that “Alzheimer’s is a disease of the brain that is paid for with the currency of the heart.” A member of the board of overseers of The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, she stresses the need to develop more effective treatment for the five million Americans currently diagnosed with this incurable disease, pointing out that for every patient there is a large circle of others also affected. Sutton offers practical advice for the care of the caregiver and the patient, and shares the pain that came as she watched pieces of her husband’s self disappear. Following his death, after what Nancy Reagan described as “the long goodbye”, she writes candidly about coping with her new status as a widow and the aching loneliness of the heart that is the price paid for having known a great love. 100% of the author’s royalties (20 to 40% of the purchase price) will benefit the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation/Canada. Cover design by John R. Lewis
About the Author
Joan Sutton One of Canada’s best known journalists, Joan Sutton’s byline has appeared in the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun, the Houston Post, and the Boston Herald. Her commentaries have been aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and CFRB radio and her columns have been collected in three best selling books. Her blog Sutton’s Place, is popular with readers in 40 countries on WordPress.Com and is also available on The Huffington Post.