By the Caregiver: It was a gradual and progressive situation
where I became the caregiver of my father. He was
given a diagnosis probably about a year-and-a-half
ago of Alzheimer's dementia, and it was something
that we recognized over, you know, a long period
of time that he was becoming more and more
forgetful and so when they actually put a
diagnosis on the situation, it was kind of a
shocking revelation.
Alzheimer's dementia actually is a
progressive disease; although, it can be
controlled with medications. There's different
degrees of severity, and my father probably about
a year ago seemed to be in a more severe state
than he actually is now. He suffered from, you
know, some anxiety, a lot of fears, and just
especially fear of being alone.
As a child, you never really know exactly
when that transition is going to come. It's not
inevitable, but in terms of making that transition
from being child to caregiver, it was really just
second nature that that was something that I I
had to do, was my responsibility.
My father has been living with me probably
for the last two years. He's expressed the fact
that he feels much more comfortable and better
actually just being, you know, in the environment
of his family as opposed to trying to live on his
own. It's really been a, you know, a blessing for
me to be able to see, you know, that he's he's
doing well.
He's capable of doing a lot of the activities
that he did before. He's capable of continuing to
participate in his senior athletics. He's the
current national record holder in four track and
field events for the National Senior Games
Association. He set national records for the 100
meter, 200 meter, 400 meter, and the long jump,
so he's he's able to get back into those
activities and participate. I'm just actually
happy that he's out there competing. I'm proud to
see him him do that. There aren't many 84-
years-olds that can actually, you know, do what he
does.
By the Crowd: Good running there,
Young Man.
The Runner: Thank you.
By the Crowd: Good Keep up the good work.
By the Caregiver: Obviously, you know, we're not happy that
he wasn't able to live on his own and that he's
developed some forgetfulness, but at the same
time, he's there with us physically every day,
so, you know, if you look on the positive side,
you know, there's there's always a there's always a positive side to every
situation.
