Alzheimer’s takes toll on Southwest Georgia family

ALBANY — The leading symptom of dementia, known as Alzheimer’s disease, is a gradual eating away of the brain that causes memory loss as well as a decrease in mental function. It can progress for years or even decades, taking a physical and emotional toll on the person suffering as well as their loved ones.

The Hubbard family, native to Clay County, has four siblings — one in Edison, one in Bluffton, one in Albany and another in Alabama — all in various stages of Alzheimer’s. In the generation behind them are 10 others scared they may be next. Among them is Ed Chance, manager of Cane Mill Plantation, whose mother was diagnosed about four years ago.

“It’s a tough situation to see them deteriorate that quick,” he said. “She has medication for it. It helps for a little while, but they need to do more.”

Chance’s parents live in Albany, and he has a sister who lives nearby. This allows the family as a whole to be actively engaged in the maternal figure’s care.

“My dad is still alive, and I have a sister who was adopted that lives within two blocks of where they live,” he said, ” so we take turns taking care of them.”

Care includes making sure both parents are able to keep their doctors’ visits. Chance’s father can still drive, but his mother had her keys and license confiscated. A fall put her in a nursing home, during which she was temporarily taken off her medication, which caused a setback in her condition.

A lot has been lost in the few years since the diagnosis. For the Chances, though, there has also been a strong support system outside the family.

“(Quality of life) is pretty good,” Chance said. “Dad is able to look after her. They also have good next-door neighbors, so we are in a much better situation that a lot of people.”

The family has someone to come in and help clean. She is unable to cook, so food is sent to them and the mother and father go to a nearby restaurant a few times a week.

“My dad is still good with his mind,” Chance said. “(They) can get around pretty well. My mother can sweep a little bit and wash clothes, but she can’t get around like you or me.

“She knows who we are when you come in the house. Our grandmother didn’t (when she had Alzheimer’s).”

Chance’s Alzheimer’s awareness comes from a fear that he may end up like his mother, who has managed to lose what she had rather fast.

“She was the secretary of the school superintendent in Clay County,” he said. “After she retired, she deteriorated to the point where she can’t remember what she said five minutes ago. She asks the same questions over and over again.

“I might be next.”

Like many diseases, the impact of Alzheimer’s does not often become a reality until a person is affected by it.

“A lot of people don’t talk about it because a lot of people are in denial; you don’t realize it until it hits you,” Chance said. “It’s upsetting to know parents don’t remember.

“When you are put in that situation, you gain perspective that I might be next and put someone else through this.”

Having children act as their parents’ caregivers is burden enough with the other obligations life may bring on them. That doesn’t take into account the impact on spouses.

“My dad is 87. His time is coming,” Chance said. “If he passes away first, it will be a burden.

“It is a bad disease, and more needs to be done with research to help people cope. Folks who have it, by the time they realize it, it is too late.”

Carolann Knight, whose father is among the affected siblings, lives four hours away from her parents’ Bluffton home. While her mother has the lion’s share of the caregiving duties, she has been able to see the devastation the condition has brought into her parents’ lives.

“It’s so sad to sit back and watch the impact on the person and the care they need,” she said.

Knight’s father, who just turned 75, has been struggling with Alzheimer’s for almost 13 years.

“He needs help with daily things, with his food and with getting dressed,” she said. “He can’t carry a thought or remember the smallest details.

“He has stages where he knows what is going on.”

Despite the toll it’s had, Knight said her mother has done a good job of making sure her father feels secure around his surroundings — even driving him around the block and back to convince him he is at home. She has also strived to keep him active.

“My mom is an amazing lady. She does what it takes,” Knight said. “She has not let him check out of society. That is one thing that keeps him going.”

Knight, in the meantime, has new-found knowledge of the disease. Like the rest of the family from her generation, she is concerned she might be next.

“I’ve done a lot more research (on) how I can prepare, what I can do to prepare for my children,” she said. “It’s a very scary disease.

“There definitely needs to be more out there. At the beginning, people think they are getting older and that it is normal. (They think) this is just what happens and don’t know how bad it is.”

Over time, Knight said, her father has come to terms with his situation.

“He’s gradually accepted it,” she said. “He still believes in God. It’s remarkable he has something to put his hope in.”

The extended family that Chance and Knight come from has always been close, and even lived close together while they were growing up. Consequently, they have a strong support system to lean on. Not everyone with the disease is that fortunate, which is why Knight says she would like to get involved in a network assisting other families coping with Alzheimer’s.

“I would love to find more ways to make folks aware, help others in those situations,” she said.

The Alzheimer’s Association describes the condition as one in which a person experiences memory loss as well as difficulties communicating, learning, thinking and reasoning severe enough to alter their work, social and family life. Among the risk factors are advanced age, family history of Alzheimer’s, diet, exercise and smoking.

Inheriting one of three rare genes that directly cause the disease accounts for about 1 percent of cases, the association says.

Statistics from the Alzheimer’s Association say the disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States and the only one in the Top 10 that cannot be prevented, cured or slowed. More than 5 million in the country have Alzheimer’s, which along with other dementias, will cost the nation $226 billion this year. Before the end of the year, an estimated 700,000 Americans age 65 and older will succumb to the disease.

Last year, friends and family of those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias provided an estimated 17.9 billion hours in unpaid care.

The Georgia Department of Public Health Office of Health Indicators for Planning says there were 2,042 deaths in the state from Alzheimer’s in 2013. In the same year, the Southwest Public Health District — which includes a 14-county area surrounding Albany — saw 117 deaths due to the disease.