The Summer Solstice — the longest day of the year — has arrived in the northern half of Planet Earth.
The longest day also has another meaning for those with intimate knowledge of a deadly disease that destroys the human brain and turns its victims into shells of who they once were.
It’s called Alzheimer’s disease, named for Alois Alzheimer who first diagnosed the disease in the early 20th century. The longest day is meant to characterize how time no longer is relevant to Alzheimer’s patients. Days turn into nights, and vice versa. It all runs together for these people — and often for those who care for them.
The Summer Solstice is going to bring in a lot of public ceremonies around the country today as we celebrate National Alzheimer’s Month. It’s a symbolic time to commemorate this disease.
I have some knowledge of how it ravages families.
My mother died in 1984. She was diagnosed officially in the spring of 1980, but the blunt reality is that she showed symptoms long before the neurologist delivered the grim news to us.
The doctor was blunt. There’s no cure. There’s no way to identify the disease, he said, other than to eliminate every other pathological reason. It’s terminal, he said. Your mother will die from it eventually, he added.
We tried our best to care for her. Dad did his best as well, until he met his own untimely death in September 1980.
A month is hardly enough time to commemorate this disease. It should be on-going. It afflicts many millions of Americans that number is growing as the median age of this country increases. Do we have all-star concerts with rock stars, film icons, mega-rich philanthropists calling national attention to this disease? No.
It’s not a “sexy” disease the way, say, AIDS became more than three decades ago.
Alzheimer’s disease afflicts old people — mostly. Mom wasn’t old by any stretch of the imagination when the first symptoms presented themselves. I cannot recall precisely when we noticed changes in behavior or when she made statements that didn’t quite compute.
When the end came, she was just 61, which by my way of thinking is getting younger all the time.
It’s not pretty. In fact, it’s heartbreaking in the extreme to watch your loved one slip farther away.
So, enjoy the Summer Solstice, this first day of summer.
While doing so, give some thought to those you may have lost to Alzheimer’s disease or perhaps say a prayer for someone who’s caring for a loved one gripped by this tragic ailment.