Alzheimer’s Disease is a degenerative disorder of the brain; irreversible and relentless. In the spring of 2014, it beat the strongest woman I have ever known… my Grandmother.
She was born in the spring of 1928, named Nada Maxine. She lived her life through resilient decisions and utmost respect for the consequences. At the age of 18, she wed my Grandfather Earl, the love of her life. Together they raised 5 children, all of who grew up to be aunts and uncles whom I greatly respect. She was a school teacher for much of her life, teaching special education class. She worked tirelessly until her 70’s. Soon after retirement, the dark cloud came. Here is what I would like to say to Alzheimer’s disease:
We aren’t scared of you. Grandma was never scared of you. You take and you take and when you’re finished, you take life’s greatest gift of all; life itself. You’re sneaky. You aren’t the direct cause of death. You’re the symptoms. The weakening of the mind and its ability to take on menial tasks. You get away with it because you’re so gradual. All of the blame gets put on other things like blood pressure and sugar issues, dementia, arthritis… everything that should’ve been an inconvenience at most ended up taking the blame for your destruction. You are a blanket of sadness and confusion that drapes over the people who deserve it the least. In fact, nobody deserves to have their entire life’s memories scattered and thrown into oblivion. One day, hopefully sooner than later, we will end you.
