Memory of Mom

Even after one Bismarck woman suffered a loss from the disease, she still continues to help in the battle to find a cure. My expectations are high, but I’ve worked really hard. says Darlene Danielson/Team Captain. She's working really hard and walking to make changes. It's a very devastating, hard disease to work with. It takes away one piece of their dignity at a time, so that's why I really work hard to see that we can get an answer. she says. Darlene's mom was diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease in 2000 and passed away four short years later. She participated in the Alzheimers Memory Walk Saturday in her mom's memory. Something that triggered some of her own memories, of how horrible the disease can be. The house was dark, nothing was on, and she was sitting on the davenport and I said mom haven't you ate breakfast yet, and she says no I have, but the folks are sleeping downstairs and I don't know why they don't come up here to sleep. I went over and put my arm around here and I said mom, grandpa and grandma can't come in, they're in heaven, I know but they're sleeping downstairs, so I talked to her for a while and I got up and cleared the table and washed the dishes, and nothing more was said and I waited till the transit came and picked her up at the senior center and she waved like nothing ever happened and I cried all the way home. says Danielson. Being a caregiver to someone with Alzheimers isn't easy. The stress level is so high, actually the percentage right now of the caregivers that pass on before the patient is 65% because of the stress. she says. That's why Darlene was part of a support group, read everything she could that she thought would help her, and remains on a mailing list to this day. You find out you're not the only one. It's devastating for everyone. but the support groups just helped me tremendously and in a heartbeat I would, they're the ones that saved me. But that doesn't make everything better. The hardest thing...