Confronting Alzheimer's

Newsweek, June, 2007 by Barbara Kantrowitz and Karen Springen

A man is sitting next to her. She knows his name is Frank, but that is all she knows. She doesn't remember that when they met, she was head cheerleader and he was considered the best-looking guy in town. She doesn't remember that they've been married nearly 63 years and have raised two daughters, Michel Webb, 55, and Melinda Proza, 46.

She doesn't know that her daughters and Frank, 85, try to watch her constantly because they're terrified she will wander off. She doesn't even know her own name. It is Helen Erskine. She is 81 years old and she has Alzheimer's disease--a devastating diagnosis. "Only people who have this in their family could possibly understand what we're going through," says Webb, a Dallas banker. With other diseases, she says, "there's usually a progression, a treatment, and you're hopeful for a positive end. With Alzheimer's, there is no positive end." ...