Dallas

Alzheimer's Blog A Product of Love, Effort for Life

Patient, home health aide create a blog to educate others dealing with Alzheimer's Disease

It has been the better part of two years since 75-year-old Jane McManus was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

Like anyone, McManus said the diagnosis devastated her at first.

"And then I said, 'I'm not just gonna sit down and wait to die,'" she said. "What I do know is most of the people who have Alzheimer's, when they're told they go home they suck their thumb and just wait to die."

McManus, of Dallas, is not waiting for anything. Instead, she and her home health aide are trudging forward and working to build a legacy that will last long after McManus' memory begins to fade.

"I've been doing this for over a decade and I know exactly where this story ends," Care Pro with Honor's Alli Espinosa said. "Jane knows exactly where this story ends. We're unified on that front. I don't dwell on it, because we know where it's going. But what we're hoping to create, we're going to give something after she's gone that people can read and people can look at and people can see that she did more."

In addition to helping with medication, meal prep and other household chores, Espinosa helps McManus gather her thoughts and put them out in the world with their weekly blog entry

Their first entry, posted Jan. 1, begins with a chuckle and with a focus that has followed in each subsequent post:

"Hi my name is Jane, and I have Alzheimer’s. It sounds like a confession at an AA meeting doesn’t it? People certainly seem to look at Alzheimer’s with the same taboo that is associated with being an Alcoholic. Like some sort of secret that we all know exists, but it’s somehow inappropriate to talk about.

"I spent forty years as a psychotherapist before my diagnosis, so I worked with the brain and mind my entire life. I have watched people overcome some insurmountable odds and been inspired by them, some even in my own family. Here is what I know: your diagnosis is not the definition of who you are, but rather a singular part of you. I am not “Jane with Alzheimer’s” I am Jane; a wife, mother, and accomplished psychotherapist. I also happen to have Alzheimer’s.

"I want you to know that you haven’t gone crazy, and it isn’t a taboo. This simply is a fact of life that some of us deal with. But can I tell you little secret to Alzheimer’s? Although you may have been diagnosed, it is not this slow forgetful march to death. It is, in fact, a new learning experience on how to live your best life with your new diagnosis and continue to be you in spite of it. Let people know about this new small part of you, don’t let this become the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about. This is who you are and this is your life. Let your friends and family be a part of You 2.0! My family and friends are reading my first ever blog, and while I admittedly need the help of my CarePro Alli to write it, I am accomplishing something I've never done before, and I am doing it all with Alzheimer's."

"A lot of people don't even know that I have Alzheimer's," McManus said about her condition. "But when I'm trying to write something or tell something to the world or to other people that is hard for me. It takes me a long time. And that's what [Alli] has given me."

Figures from the Alzheimer's Association indicate that McManus is far from the only person who has a story to tell. In Texas alone, the number of people 65 years old and older with Alzheimer's is expected to grow from 350,000 to 490,000 by the year 2025, a 40 percent increase.

"It seems really somber that we know where this is going, but we're creating something for after we've gotten to that point," Espinosa said about their collective effort. "We can either be really sad about it, we can be really disrupted by it, or we can look at it and decide, 'We know where this is going, we know what we're doing, and we're gonna enjoy every second of it up until then.'"

Read her blog here: http://livingwithalz.thoughts.com/

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