my story revisited #157-later on

MY STORY REVISITED #157-LATER ON

johnpalminterinews
this photo was taken as i was talking this weekend at the santa barbara walk to end alzheimers
i briefly told my story for about 2 minutes
yes i soaked a handkerchief listening to the speakers who spoke before me then after i spoke i soaked it even more
ive done this at almost every walk to end alzheimers ive done over the last 12 years
the end results are the same
i cry they cry we all cry
over the years ive edited out some of the presentation that makes me cry so i can continue

i spent several minutes talking to folks and answering their questions afterwards

although the hardest one was a walk to end alzheimers we did in little rock arkansas 
its was the year after my younger brother died from alzheimers disease
yes i cried and we all cried as we held up our flowers spinning around in the wind off the arkansas river
there was no way i could talk that day

it was a good walk raising a lot of money from alzheimers disease
they donate millions of dollars to fund research on alzheimers disease each year

thanks to yall over the years that have participated and made donations
your monies have been well spent

today i ran across this blog i wrote about dr sandy helperin a dentist from florida who was diagnosed with mci due to alzheimers disease about the same time i was
we connected via a discussion group on the alzheimers association website

i have followed him over the years but have lost contact with him
his facebook page is no longer active
i found a recent posting online that said he is now in a long term care facility

also in the blog below there is a link to a series of 3 minute videos on cnn that followed his story overtime

it was interesting to follow the stories

as i have written before
i really thought when i was diagnosed i would today be like him
in a memory center or long term care or not here at all
but
here i am 
getting my #23 infusion of aduhelm at ucla yesterday with my memory intact now 12 years later after being diagnosed
i cant complain about anything this morning

__________
10-3-2014
EARLY ON
a couple of years ago i met this guy in the discussion group
in the alzheimers association website www.alz.org


his name was sandy halperin
he was recently diagnosed with early onset alzheimers disease
and like me was anxious to tell his story about his disease
and probably like me wanting to tell it while he could

now i have early amnestic mild cognitive impairment
that stage between normal and full blown alzheimers
i have no doubt that i have alzheimers disease

so ive communicated some with sandy halperin over the
last two years via email and facebook

he was a dentist in florida who use to teach at harvard in
their dental school
while working in florida on the state dental board when
he would review cases he noticed that he couldnt recall
the material he read so he eventually got evaluated

he being someone like me i guess who wanted to know
as much as possible where he was with the disease

he quit working and has been an advocate for alzheimers
disease education and research
like i have been

i feel this kinship with him even though he is slightly
more advanced than i am

recently dr sanjay gupta from cnn has done a series on
dr halperins story
below is the first of the series


i found it hard to read and watch but i did it

here is the link
click on the video and watch it

click here

in there are symptoms that i have but maybe not as bad
but i know im headed that way

also read his story below the video
the more we see people early on and talk about it
maybe more people will reach out for help early on

maybe more people will understand what its like early on

this week i read an article about a ucla research study looking
at 10 people with memory loss using 30+ treatment therapies
on each one
they all got better and some returned to work
the only one that didnt improve was a more advanced
alzheimers disease patient

i am doing many of these of course im not taking hormone therapy
but i do stare some as i mentioned in a recent blog
thats sort of like yoga

so maybe there are things sandy and i and others can do
to slow down the process
larger studies on greater numbers are planned

i have a lot of admiration for sandy halperin exposing his diagosis like
this so we can understand what its like early on
in this disease  process

upcoming walk to end alzheimers events we are participating
donate and or join us or join your local walk
help sandy and i out some
_________
i am already looking forward to the walk to end alzheimers next year
join us and or join your local alzheimers walk

if you are in the alzheimers world you might want to watch the videos on dr halperins story
it may be hard to watch at times

the organicgreendoctor