To the Editor:
    Mother Nature can be so kind to some and so very cruel to others.
    What can be worse, after a productive life, than the loss of self, “God’s cruel joke.”
    Alzheimer’s. This unforgiving disease offers not just turmoil in the patient’s mind but also in the family’s life. It just recently hit me how many folks I know who are so stricken with Alzheimer’s Disease. A very good friend in Buckhead recently decided it was time to deal with some legal aspects of her husband’s disease and visited a lawyer for guidance. A Rutledge friend just wants to talk to others about her mother’s symptoms. Two Madison friends are just beginning the journey with their husbands. Another buried her stricken husband a few years ago.
    I see each of them, along with so many others here in Morgan County, traveling separate and lonely paths.         Bringing those paths together and allowing them to talk to and learn from each other would give each a healthier perspective, a more objective viewpoint in dealing with day-to-day life.
    To that end, my friends and I have organized a get-together next week for the loved ones and friends of Alzheimer’s patients.
    Others who just want to learn more are also invited.
    All are welcome Thursday, May 7 at 7 p.m. at Madison Presbyterian Church on South Main Street, just south of the square in Madison.
    We will be so lucky to hear well-known and highly-respected, retired physician Dr. Ken Lewis speak not only about the causes of Alzheimer’s Disease, but also his reflections on the last years of his wife, who died of the disease’s complications.
    Also, Rosalyn Shraeder of the Senior Life Enrichment Center at Morgan Memorial Hospital will speak about the local hospital’s support group for caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients.
    Please come and take this small step. It will lighten the turmoil, answer some questions, and provide hands to hold.
Patsy Harris
Madison
Via e-mail

Printed in the April 30, 2009 edition.