HALIFAX – Anne West looks over at her long-time sweetheart, Fred, and is grateful he is still sitting by her side.
“He’s been my best friend. To watch him lose his memory, I’m very thankful he’s kept his sense of humour,” she said.
Fred has Alzheimer’s. The couple began to suspect the senior had the condition 17 years ago. A doctor confirmed it about two years later.
The disease may have been a death sentence decades ago, but the Halifax couple has been able to cope because Fred was diagnosed early.
Fred tells Global News that he does not remember when he was diagnosed, but Anne said it all began when he sat down to do his income taxes 17 years ago.
“He had done one the weekend before and he went to do the other one and he couldn’t figure out how the program worked,” she said.
It could have been mistaken for old age but Fred was only 58 years old at the time.
Anne, whose parents both had Alzheimer’s, said she knew something was wrong and began to pick up on different things.
“He would forget he had an appointment. I would go down to pick him up and call him and tell him I was going to come pick him up at work. He would forget I was coming and not come out to meet me. Those things kept happening regularly to where they build up and you say ‘ok this is not normal’.”
They quickly saw a doctor and soon had the diagnosis: Fred had Alzheimer’s.
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“You want to hope you have Alzheimer’s because there’s treatment for Alzheimer’s now. There wasn’t when my parents had it,” Anne said.
The couple quickly began to overhaul their lives; they started exercising more, eating healthier and moved out of their house into an apartment.
Then they began to undertake important tasks like updating Fred’s will, discussing power of attorney and having tough talks with their family.
Fred also started on medication that would help slow the progression of the disease.
As difficult as those tasks were, Anne said the couple got through them and the diagnosis actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
She said the couple could have had only a year and a half together after the diagnosis, which is how long both her parents lived after they were diagnosed, but instead they had more years than they could have anticipated.
“We were able to regulate our lives so we were comfortable for these whole 15 years.”
“We wanted to do everything that would make it easier for my wife,” Fred said with a smile.
But it’s obvious he understands his life now is drastically different from what it could have been.
“Anybody who’s running into these problems should be going through all the things that are necessary, making sure everything you have is good,” he said seriously.
“If you go and get treatment and live life accordingly, you can have a really good life. It’s not the end of the world to have a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s anymore,” Anne said.
The Alzheimer’s Society of Nova Scotia estimates more than 17,000 Nova Scotians currently have dementia, a number that will double in the next 30 years.
Executive Director Lloyd Brown said the province’s older demographic will contribute to the growing number of dementia patients and with January being Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, the society is touting the importance of early diagnosis.
“I think it’s important to plan,” he said. “These things, as the disease progresses, that will limit your ability to have input.”
Brown said fear of the unknown, stigma surrounding the condition and the assumption it may just be old age are often factors in people delaying seeing a doctor.
But he said taking steps earlier rather than later can have a profound effect on the progression of the disease.
“We know medication can work best if you administer them in the early stages of the disease. If you delay, the benefit from medication might be lessened. Those wishes you had, those unfulfilled dreams, just can’t happen.”
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