alzheimer's

another famous victim

James Doohan, the actor who played Montgomery Scott ("Scotty") in the original Star Trek series and the movies that followed, has announced that he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He is 84.

Alzheimer's disease is a matter of great interest to me because of my family history. You see, my grandmother died of this devastating disease.

A good friend's mother also recently succumbed to Alzheimer's. Then, Ronald Reagan lost his battle with the same enemy.

My grandmother's symptoms came on slowly. The first warning signs came long before the disease started to become apparent; it took years before her children accepted that she couldn't live alone anymore. By the time she passed away, she didn't recognize any family members. She didn't remember her long marriage to my grandfather. She didn't remember having children. The memories that remained were from her childhood.

She had been part of an Alzheimer's study (thanks to my mother), and when she died my mother insisted upon an autopsy of her brain. Such an autopsy is the only way to verify that the problem was Alzheimer's. My uncle didn't want it to be done, but my mother was the elder child so her wishes prevailed. The examination revealed that she had reached Braak stage V to VI, i.e. her Alzheimer's was nearly as advanced as it could possibly get.

For more information on Alzheimer's, see this site.

I've worked hard not to get political in this little article - it hasn't been easy - but there will be plenty of time for that later.