Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    'Til Death Do Us Part: A story of a lifetime of devotion
    'Til Death Do Us Part: A story of a lifetime of devotion
    'Til Death Do Us Part: A story of a lifetime of devotion
    Ebook71 pages51 minutes

    'Til Death Do Us Part: A story of a lifetime of devotion

    By Suzanne Johnson

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This true, heart-wrenching love story will enlighten and offer support to those who struggle with the brutality and inevitability of Alzheimer's Disease. Readers will identify with the compassion of one care giver in comparison with the brutality of the disease itself.

    When I think of who my mother was in her prime, and who she became in the end, it’s like imagining two different people. She too was a graduate from nursing school in 1943. Care giving was natural for her. She came from a large family of seven children who worked hard on their farm to make ends meet. She helped provide for the family and took care of her younger siblings. She enjoyed working in the hospital and felt at ease among the halls of medicine. She never would have wanted her life to become so dependent upon others but unfortunately, her nurturing role was reversed. My father stepped into the role of care giver for 15 years as she helplessly became the unwilling recipient.

    My greatest hope for today is to spread awareness of the disease and support extensive research for the promise of a cure once and for all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTim Johnson
    Release dateJan 29, 2013
    ISBN9781301041978
    'Til Death Do Us Part: A story of a lifetime of devotion
    Author

    Suzanne Johnson

    Suzanne Johnson lives in Auburn, Alabama, and works as associate editor of Auburn Magazine. She is a veteran journalist with more than fifty national awards for writing and editing nonfiction. She is the author of the urban fantasy novels Royal Street and River Road.

    Read more from Suzanne Johnson

    Related to 'Til Death Do Us Part

    Related ebooks

    Wellness For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Q&a With Richard Lui

      Mar 26, 2019

      Q&a With Richard Lui
      4 min read

    • Article

      Being There

      Mar 26, 2019

      Being There
      6 min read

    • Article

      Protagonists

      Jun 18, 2021

      Was the craft of fiction around desire and obstacle taught by men and for men, for men protagonists and men readers? Was fiction part of the patriarchy? Was the craft of fiction part of the patriarchy? The answers were all yes. The post Protagonists

      7 min read

    • Article

      Counselor of Chippewa Cabin

      Jun 26, 2020

      Counselor of Chippewa Cabin
      5 min read

    • Article

      Q&A Percy Daggs III

      Mar 26, 2022

      Q&A Percy Daggs III
      5 min read

    • Article

      Ariel Levy: “Feminism Never Said You Can Have It All”

      Mar 14, 2017

      Ariel Levy is a journalist, author, and staff writer at The New Yorker who has written long stories about South African Olympian Castor Semenya, gay-rights activist Edith Windsor, and what The Joy of Sex looks like for today’s reader. But if you know

      7 min read

    • Article

      Comfort

      Jan 28, 2023

      Comfort
      8 min read

    • Article

      Mi querida Sanaë

      Jun 16, 2020

      Mi querida Sanaë
      11 min read

    • Article

      Thanks For The Memories

      Sep 17, 2021

      Thanks For The Memories
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Accidental Caregiver

      Feb 14, 2023

      The Accidental Caregiver
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Season Of Giving

      Nov 25, 2020

      The Season Of Giving
      3 min read

    • Article

      DEMENTIA Brought Us Closer

      Jul 1, 2021

      DEMENTIA Brought Us Closer
      3 min read

    • Article

      What It’s Like To Be A Midlife Orphan

      Jul 4, 2023

      Hearing the bedroom door slam, I close my eyes and sigh. My daughter Estelle, 15, and I have just had another row over something so petty but according to her, I’m incredibly ‘unfair’. It’s times like these when I long to pick up the phone and ask my

      4 min read

    • Article

      In the Beginning, In the End

      Sep 1, 2020

      In the Beginning, In the End
      10 min read

    • Article

      Ask SUZIE

      Nov 3, 2020

      Q Ever since my two children married and had children of their own we’ve managed to divide up Christmas between the various families. This year we’ve got a problem. My elderly parents live a three-hour drive away and since my dad is vulnerable, they’

      4 min read

    • Article

      Sabrina Cohen-Hatton

      Sep 20, 2021

      Sabrina Cohen-Hatton
      5 min read

    • Article

      Life, Death, and Love

      Nov 20, 2018

      Life, Death, and Love
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Ninth Step

      Aug 26, 2020

      The Ninth Step
      6 min read

    • Article

      Why I Stoppedsearching For Mum

      Feb 28, 2023

      Curling up on my mother’s lap with a book, her fingers combed through my hair. I was seven and exceptionally close to Mum. We were so alike, we both loved reading and enjoyed art and we even looked the same, with our dark hair. Nobody would suspect t

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for 'Til Death Do Us Part

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      'Til Death Do Us Part - Suzanne Johnson

      ’Til Death Do Us Part

      A Story of a Lifetime of Devotion

      Published by Suzanne Johnson

      Smashwords Edition

      www.AlzStory.com

      Copyright 2012 Suzanne Johnson

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      *****

      Dedication:

      To My Dad, My Life-long Hero

      *****

      Oh the comfort,

      the inexpressible comfort

      of feeling safe with a person,

      having neither to weigh thoughts

      nor measure words, but pouring them

      all right out, just as they are.

      Certain that a fateful hand will

      Take and sift them

      keep what is worth keeping

      And with kindness

      Blow the rest away.

      ~ Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

      *****

      Table of Contents

      Forward

      Introduction

      Remembrance

      ’Til Death Do Us Part

      Afterward

      About the Disease

      Resources

      *****

      Forward

      This is an exceptional personal love story and the photos add a wonderful level of sentiment. Although Alzheimer’s is a devastating condition, the writer demonstrates how Alzheimer’s steals the mind but is unable to steal the heart. This story is a wonderful example of enduring strength, courage and love in the face of Alzheimer’s. The Johnson family held on to her memories for her like a mother holds on to her child. This is a very intimate and very touching account of a heart-breaking disease.

      Dr. Ethelle G. Lord, DM

      President and Professional Alzheimer’s Coach

      http://remembering4you.com

      Introduction

      I have often been asked what made me decide to write my book. To be honest, it was never intended to be a publicized work. I began to write my thoughts a few days following my mother’s death to ease my own personal grieving. Writing and journaling has always been an outlet for me so I used it to ease the pain. During the course of my mother’s illness, my father took daily notes regarding her condition. Sometimes a line or two was all he would enter maybe saying she would not eat today, or this was a good day, but there were also words of hope, followed by discouragement and pain. After 15 years of caring for her, Dad had quite a compilation of notes. After Mom died, I asked him if I could look them over and it was through his writing along with thoughts of my own that I based a memoir that I presented to him and a few close family relations. I was then encouraged to take my story a step further with the hope of offering some understanding to others in similar situations. But this is the story of one care givers journey. Many others have had to make different choices and agonizing decisions to follow their heart and suit their needs. I can simply offer what I witnessed as a daughter.

      Writing this book also gave me a chance to fight back in my own small way by speaking out and raising awareness of this gripping disease of sad goodbyes. The relentless symptoms only become worse with time, wearing down its victims and anyone else personally involved. The disease itself is shameless and shows no mercy to those afflicted. But it doesn’t end there. It is cruelly passed on through a mutated gene to family members to reignite its thunderous course.

      Therefore, I have decided to write this book to share my mother’s experience and to honor my father’s devotion towards her.

      My parents met in 1941 while my mother was in nursing school. A classmate introduced her to my Dad on a blind date and the rest was history. Ironically enough, the first date they had was a trip to the same lake where she spent her last days.

      They were married in 1945. My mother had become an RN. During the war, they were beginning to draft nurses, so the joke has always been that my mother ‘had’ to get married to dodge the draft. It was a small quiet ceremony; in fact my father went to work

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1