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Her Sabbath Song
Bob Perry on Seeing Beyond His Mother's Alzheimer's Disease
My mom has Alzheimer's disease. Most of us have read about it or seen movies about it, but until you experience what it does to a loved one, those are nothing but detached observations that cannot possibly describe the evil tyrant that Alzheimer's is. Yes, its attack is relentless and debilitating. But the person who has the disease is not its only victim. In fact, the sad reality is that the victim seems blissfully unaware that anything is wrong with him—at least I pray that is the case—while those who love him must stand helplessly by and watch the one they love drift further and further away, even as he's sitting right in front of you.
My mom tells stories from years ago but can't remember that she just ate dinner. The stories are jumbled and intertwined. Sometimes she laughs or gets sad as she tells them, whether the emotion is appropriate to the story or not. She warns us about imaginary dangers and wonders why people who have been dead for many years haven't stopped by to see her.
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Bob Perry is a commercial airline captain. He and his wife of 35 years attend Center Pointe Christian Church in West Chester, Ohio. They have five sons. Bob holds an M.A. in Christian Apologetics from Biola University and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy. He defends the Christian worldview at truehorizon.org.
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