The Iron Lady Fights Her Toughest Foe

Well, it’s a biopic so you have to expect that there will be quibbling over interpretation. You know, the usual stuff: was he the favorite; was she a mean witch; was he a private cross-dresser? Who really knows? The new biopic The Iron Lady, currently showing in your favorite Cineplex, has sparked controversy – even outrage – due to the fact that the central figure, Margaret Thatcher, is still alive. The crux of the objection is that the film depicts Thatcher as suffering from dementia. Friends and foes alike are “uncomfortable” with –or even incensed by – the scenes depicting

My Mother, My Grandmother, My Daughter, Myself

Note: this is first in a series of posts about women and Alzheimer’s When I was home during intersession in my junior year of college, I went with my mother to visit my grandmother in a nursing home. She had what was called “hardening of the arteries.” An articulate, determined, domineering woman-of-her-era, she was now a confused, rambling old lady. I watched as my mother gathered her mother’s soiled laundry to wash at home. Until then, my mother’s laundering skills were nil – unless you counted her rinsing out her nylons at night. But this was her mother and our

Walk a Day in Her Shoes

When my mother, as yet undiagnosed with Alzheimer’s, asked me to get a pair of glasses from her purse, I stumbled upon a traffic ticket. I sighed, knowing my mother’s propensity for speeding. I scanned the summons to find how fast she was going this time. Much to my surprise she had been pulled over for going ten miles-per-hour on the middle lane of The George Washington Bridge. Rather than cutting off traffic, she had been virtually leading a parade of cars at a snail’s pace. Horns were blaring, but my mom thought there was a party going to a

The Power of US and 2012

When my husband George and I launched the USAgainstAlzheimer’s Network last year, our lofty vision was to unite the power of US - researchers, millions of families and advocates, hundreds of companies and our public officials. We believed (and still do) that together, we will spur the innovations in science, industry practice and regulatory processes essential to the discovery of safe and effective therapies needed to stop Alzheimer's. During 2011, the USAgainstAlzheimer’s Network moved quickly. We testified before Congress and were invited to the table to help fashion a bold and transformative plan to attack Alzheimer’s, based on legislation signed

Hit and Run

Recently, the New York Times ran another in their series of articles about concussions and football players. Written by George Vecsey, this piece focused on a college football player, Derek Owens, who has joined with other varsity players – three football players and one soccer goalie – in a class action suit that claims the NCAA has been negligent regarding awareness and treatment of brain injuries to athletes. The article begins with Derek’s mom, Teresa, reacting with a mother’s horror at watching her son being ferociously tackled, inadvertently yelling, "They’ve killed him." I know her pain. My son, Tyler, was