My name is Trish Sullivan and my story is my mother’s story.
My mother grew up on a farm in Northwestern New York and was always a very
strong, capable woman. She joined the
Navy after high school graduation to start a new adventure and chapter in her
life. My father just happened to be a
marine stationed on the same base as her and eventually convinced her to go out
with him. After what could only be
called a whirlwind romance of 6 months they were married on base and looked
forward to civilian life together.
Within a few years my brother and sister were born and I followed after
just over a 5 year hiatus. It is good
being the baby of the family. Like many
marriages it had its ups and downs over the years, but they managed to make it last
for 38 years until my father passed away suddenly of a heart attack. Mom took it (as did we all) very hard and she
seemed to dim after it happened. Over a
few years she seemed to bounce back, but never fully returned to the woman I
remembered. I now wonder if this is when
this horrible disease was starting to rear its ugly head.
During a visit to Houston she was here to see me run my very
first marathon - The 2001 Houston marathon.
Later that year she decided to move near me in Houston, so I could keep
an eye on her and help around the house when needed. Things seemed to going along just fine until
late 2008. I noticed she was getting
distracted and repeating a few things over when I would come to visit. As luck would have it in early 2009 I had
some changes in my personal and work life that made me stop and take a better
look at mom’s behavior. A failing
thyroid diagnosis and the implantation of medicine seemed to do wonders for her
for several months, but something still wasn’t quite right. It was time to go see the neurologist and see
if my worst fears were coming true. Her
mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and the legacy would
continue with my mother.
One thing should be noted about my mom. She is 5’8” and built with a very thin
frame. (Something that seems to have
eluded me and my siblings) This is a great combination health-wise until you
see all the side effect notes on medicines about increased issues with
individuals weighing less than 115/110 pounds.
With so few drugs currently on the market she is unable to take any
medicine to slow the progression because of this and can only take Exelon a
cognitive enhancer. It helps, but I can
slowly see her fading away before my eyes and I see the light in her eyes get a
little dimmer every few months. It is
hard switching from the role of being the baby of the family to more of a
parental role for my mom. One bright
spot is her favorite canine companion, Sam.
He keeps an eye on her, makes her take breaks when working in the yard
and made their walks shorter and shorter to make sure they made it home as she
became more confused.
I have been a runner off and on since 1999. Mom has always followed my races around the
US and the crazy costume one in France.
Running helps me deal with the daily stresses and my anger at this
disease. I run this race for her this
year and for all the other daughters that are losing their mothers to this
horrible disease. For right now I know
she remembers I run marathons, but too soon in the future she won’t and there is
nothing I can do to stop that from happening.
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