Alzheimer's diary

One in eight over the age of sixty-five and one in three over the age of eighty will be diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. In her memoir, author Joan Sutton narrates a moving account of her years as caregiver to her husband, noting that "Alzheimer's is a disease of the brain that is paid for with the currency of the heart." A member of the board of overseers of The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, she stresses the need to develop more effective treatment for the eight million Americans currently diagnosed with this incurable disease, pointing out that for every patient there is a large circle of others also affected. Sutton offers practical advice for the care of the caregiver and the patient, and shares the pain that came as she watched pieces of her husband's self disappear. Following his death, after what Nancy Reagan described as "the long goodbye", she writes candidly about coping with her new status as a widow and the aching loneliness of the heart that is the price paid for having known a great love.