In November of 2010 several people who had come together in desperation decided to share their experience with others who were experiencing the same thing. These people were doing one of the most important jobs in the world. They were caring for a loved one with Alzheimers. It is a non-paying, intensely emotional and physical job. Sometimes people would find us by accident, sometimes people would come to us as they were hanging by their last thread. We found that there seemed to be recurring questions and problems and a few of us decided, hey, why not put them all together in one place? This is that one place.

The journey through Alzheimers is not a journey that we plan for, expect to take, desire to be part of and are always relieved when it is over. According to a study done by the Alzheimers Association, 72% of caregivers experience relief when their loved one passes on. I began my journey with my husband about 1999, although at the time we had no idea we were on that path. I think if we had been told what we were in for, we both would have run in the opposite direction, kicking and screaming. Even when we were finally given the death sentence of Alzheimers, 8 years later, we still didnt really grasp the full reality. I do not think anyone can comprehend the impact it will have on their lives, both the patient and the caregiver(s). I read about it, looked it up on the internet, talked with his doctors, everything I could think of but in the end the only thing that helped was walking the road with other sufferers.

You may wonder, why did it take so long to diagnose him, 8 years? Yes, it took 8 years. In my husbands case, as with many patients Alzheimers is a concurring illness. My husband was a Viet Nam Veteran with severe PTSD, many of his memory problems were attributed to the PTSD. Many patients have concurring illness like heart problems, cholesterol problems. This makes the caregivers job even more challenging.

To begin this book and try to describe Alzheimers as anything but a horrible, difficult disease would not serve anyone justice. Make no mistake; Alzheimers is like the Dementors in Harry Potter. Alzheimers sucks the life out its patient and out of those around the patient. It robs you of dignity; self respect, years of your life and sometimes takes the caregivers life as well. There is nothing romantic, idealistic or rewarding about the journey. It is not The Note Book. When it is over you will be spent. However, as a caregiver that is your one hope, that you will live through it and you will survive it, unlike your loved one. You will have a life after Alzheimers and you will be the stronger for it because if you get through this you can do anything! I do not begin with this description to frighten you, simply to prepare you. While the road is hard and rough, there will be some very sweet tender moments that will bring such emotion to your heart and you will have tiny rewards through out your trip.

This book was created by others like me who found answers lacking. We are a group of people who lived the life and took the unforgettable journey. This is a collection of our various thoughts and feelings. We have chosen to remain anonymous so that we can be as honest as possible. Some of our stories are sad, some tough reading, some just plain facts and others will be charming. There will be humorous anecdotes. All of what you will read, really happened to the story teller. With Alzheimers there is not any reason to exaggerate, it writes in own story.

Hopefully you will realize early on the need to create a support group for yourself. That is what we hope to accomplish. We hope to give you a collection of our trials and struggles and how we learned to cope. Perhaps if you read this book early enough you will be able to prepare yourself. Some of us only came to the group after we were at the end of rope and it was our last hope. As you read we hope that have been able to impart to you the love and friendship that grew across the miles from people who were complete strangers into people who became close friends. We hope that you will feel the strength that we garnered from each other and how we chose to go on in the face of incredible adversity. How we were able to reach out to each other and keep each other going.

Daily Strength is website that we stumbled upon in our quest for kindred spirits. http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Alzheimers-Disease/support-group There are probably many other sites that offer the same comfort, this book is a collection from the members of this one particular website. One of the things that attracted me to the site was the commitment we make, that we will not say anything unkind. Some sites, message boards, that you may have participated in can have members who may not always be civil. That is not our task. We are about a haven of comfort when everything around you seems like it is crashing around you, when you think you cant take just one more day. We call ourselves, The Life Liners. Here are our thoughts, ideas, triumphs and tragedies.

We decided that we should put our experiences in a collection of stories as a guidebook for those coming behind us on the path. While the outlet of a message board was effective we also felt that having common experiences in one place, easily accessible would be beneficial to others. We have tried to sort it by topics that one may need to flip to right away and doesnt want to have to scroll through. Our writings are by people with a variety of writing skills and abilities. The important message is the experience. A few of us acted as editors, a couple as publishers. We did this while dealing with the day to day activities required of being a caregiver. For me, it helped to give purpose to my days. The road is sometimes monotonous and I would have days, weeks when I had no outside activity or contact. Writing about it helped to fulfill those days.

While this book was written with the main caregiver in mind, I believe that anyone connected with this illness would benefit from its reading. Current statistics indicate Alzheimers to be the biggest illness to face our aging population, above heart failure and cancer. If Alzheimers has not touched you so far, you are lucky. However, if we do not increase research and find a resolution, drug, and prevention for it, it is a matter of time before your life is affected, directly or indirectly, it will touch your life eventually. The following information is from the Alzheimers website, www.alz.org.

I include these figures to indicate the prevalence of the disease and to illustrate the importance of creating a support for yourself, not to scare but to encourage you to become informed and learn the skills needed to maintain your health and emotional well being. Currently,5.3 million Americans have Alzheimers, of that number 200,000 have early onset Alzheimers. That is Alzheimers that begins before the age of 65 and 500,000 with even earlier onset, before 60. By the year 2030 it is expected that the Alzheimers population will double to 20% of the population. It is the 7th leading cause of death, 5th in the 65 and older population. These are sobering numbers and signify the need for caregiver support. This is one job you cant do on your own. There are people and resources out there to help and hopefully this book will be one of those sources.