Imagine your countless and precious memories of your family and unique experiences unwillingly being stolen from your mind. Forgetting your significant other's name, forgetting the existence of your children, forgetting everything that makes you the person that you've grown to be is what those with Alzheimer's disease experience.
Alzheimer's disease is scientifically defined as a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior. This heartbreaking disease affects 3 million undeserving souls a year, ripping the memories they once cherished and complicating life and everyday functions.
Alzheimer's starts by slowly affecting everyday life, such as forgetting small things. Eventually, it progresses into a hindering obstacle that prevents the person from being able to do any typical ability we take for granted on their own, such as bathing, dressing, or writing their own name. It changed the behavior of the person you once knew and loved, turning them into a stranger. You lose the person mentally before their physical life actually ends.
With my own experience, my dear grandmother is diagnosed with this disease. Once a proud immigrant from Germany and a talented artist, she no longer will be able to visit her family without complete assistance or has the ability to write her own name, let alone a coherent sentence. She has lost the ability to bathe herself, dress herself, or do her own hair and makeup which was once something that captivated her beauty and expression immensely. She refuses food, despises the help she needs to function, and often forgets her own family member's names. We have lost the woman we love long ago, as she is not capable of most things anymore and can not hold together many pieces of a memory.
Taking care of someone with Alzheimer's is not a burden, but it deeply intertwines its roots within the family surrounding. A woman who once raised children is being cared for by her own. The roles are completely reversed and out of natural order. Her wisdom can no longer be spread and instead must be passed on be her children and grandchildren. She is stubborn in her ways and refuses help, but it is essential it is given to her by her caretaker and her family for her to be able to function. She speaks about how she feels trapped, but cannot grasp why. She is a prisoner of her own mind.
There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, and there is little-known treatment. Every family who experiences this horrific disease yearns for a day in which the first known person to survive Alzheimer's is announced, when medicine restores the precious memories to where they belong. This cannot be done without advocacy and fundraising, where fortunately the Alzheimer's Association combines the both in Walks To End Alzheimer's across the country which raises millions of dollars to help find a cure and advocate to Congress.
Until then, we stand by the beautiful people who have lost their beautiful memories and help them remember the impact they've made in our lives and will continue to do so. "There is one thing that Alzheimer's cannot take away, and that is love. Love is not a memory-- it's a feeling that resides in your heart and soul."
