A story of love and loss, of isolation and loneliness Teacher Gina Rinehart was preparing for another school year when she learned that her father was having surgery to remove a lung tumor. She flew to rural Washington to be with her parents. Unfortunately, that tumor was stage 4 lung cancer....
Juli Engel was delighted when a neurologist recommended a PET scan to determine whether amyloid — the protein clumps associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease — was accumulating in her mother’s brain. Her mother, Sue Engel, is 83 and lives in a retirement community in Florida. She’s been experiencing...
Laurie Scherrer, 55, a hardworking sales executive, found herself forgetting customers and unable to perform simple math calculations. She was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia, which causes deterioration in behavior and ability to understand language. Ms. Scherrer gave herself some time to feel sorry for herself, then took...
Eileen Kobrin was 71, lived in New York City and led a busy, active life, but like many seniors who live alone, she worried that an accident would compromise one of the things she valued most--her independence. Two years ago, while on vacation, Eileen tripped and fell, breaking her ankle...
In 2016 The New York Times devoted a special section to Alzheimer’s. It was a beautifully written story, Fraying at the Edges, by N.R. Kleinfield, that focused on Geri Taylor’s heroic journey with the disease. Ms. Taylor had become forgetful; mundane tasks often confused her. One day she got off the subway and...
Living Trusts are an important service for California Document Preparers, and many of our clients are retired or thinking about it. As a result, discussions frequently surface about a range of life-planning topics such as social security, financial planning and hospice. A recent New York Times article about assisted-living facilities...
A comedian whose career spanned 40 years, Gene Wilder was 83 when he died in August from complications from Alzheimer's disease. He kept his illness hidden from most people for at least three years. The star of legendary comedies Blazing Saddles, The Producers and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory...
