Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
NBC: Embedded Inside The Mind of Alzheimer's
Complete article at linkIn 2009, award-winning journalist Greg O’Brien was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s; he was just 59 years old. It’s the kind of news that no one is prepared for, and yet O’Brien, who had watched both his maternal grandfather and mother succumb to the disease, was perhaps more prepared than most.
O’Brien turned his reporter’s eyes upon himself, taking copious notes, and chronicling the daily challenges and indignities of the disease. The result of that work is "On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's,” a deeply personal memoir which O’Brien has dedicated to his mother; her courage, he says, taught him to stand firm in faith against “a demon of a disease.”
In fact, O’Brien is facing a war on two fronts, although he has resolved to fight only one of them.
“I have prostate cancer too,” he says. “I’m not treating it because I’m not going to go to a nursing home. That’s my exit strategy.”
O’Brien turned his reporter’s eyes upon himself, taking copious notes, and chronicling the daily challenges and indignities of the disease. The result of that work is "On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's,” a deeply personal memoir which O’Brien has dedicated to his mother; her courage, he says, taught him to stand firm in faith against “a demon of a disease.”
In fact, O’Brien is facing a war on two fronts, although he has resolved to fight only one of them.
“I have prostate cancer too,” he says. “I’m not treating it because I’m not going to go to a nursing home. That’s my exit strategy.”