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