Home » Health & Wellness » Alzheimer's Disease » The Legacy He Left: Former President Ronald Reagan and Alzheimer's

The Legacy He Left: Former President Ronald Reagan and Alzheimer's

© Brenda S. Parris

I will never forget the day I read his letter about his diagnosis. I just had to share it with my mother. I'd been with her for just three months at the time. She no longer knew me, and I don't know that she remembered the content of the letter, but it touched her as I read it to her. She cried when I told her that former President Ronald Reagan had the same disease that she had-Alzheimer's. I could sense that she felt a kinship with him, and that she felt sorry that he had this disease that was causing her to suffer. I don't know if she remembered anything about his presidency or even fully realized who I was talking about, but somehow there was a spark of recognition, or at least the knowledge that she shared the same disease with someone great.

Ronald Reagan's brave announcement that he had Alzheimer's no doubt caused many patients and caregivers feel a kinship with him and his family over the past ten years. Furthermore it advanced an awareness of this disease with the general public as well as promoting research and caregiver education. So much more is known today, so many more research advances have been achieved, and so many more people are better informed about Alzheimer's. Caregivers are better prepared now than I was ten years ago when I was my mother's caregiver.

There was no medication at that time other than cognex, and it was already too late for my mother to benefit from it. Later came aricept, and still others since that help prolong the time that Alzheimer's patients can function and to delay the more severe stages. Some of these can help even in later stages of AD as well as in the beginning.

I can imagine my mother perking up and listening carefully when it was announced in heaven that Ronald Reagan was about to enter the pearly gates. I can imagine my mother walking up to him, extending her hand to shake his, saying "Mr. President, you and I had something in common down there. My daughter read me a letter from you about it." I can imagine that he smiled and walked off with her as they discussed Alzheimer's and as she proudly introduced "Mr. President" to her friends and family up there.

And I can imagine some day she will introduce me to her friend, Ronald Reagan, and there will be no doubt then, I will be introduced as her daughter, the one that read the letter from him.

The copyright of the article The Legacy He Left: Former President Ronald Reagan and Alzheimer's in Alzheimer's Disease is owned by Brenda S. Parris. Permission to republish The Legacy He Left: Former President Ronald Reagan and Alzheimer's in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.