Alzheimer S Association

The body that Marine Unit police found Saturday in the Wissahickon Creek was identified Tuesday as a missing Roxborough man, David Taundi, his father said Tuesday. "It's a nightmare. That's the only way to describe it," Josiya Taundi said of losing his son, who was recalled as a good-spirited humanitarian. David Taundi, 33, had been missing since Dec. 15, when his vehicle was involved in a fiery crash on Henry Avenue near the creek. "There's a lot of speculation," Josiya Taundi said of the incident.

DEAR ABBY: My 62-year-old husband was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and I have since learned that his co-workers spotted his troubles long before I did at home. Had I been informed, he could possibly have retired on disability and have Medicare today (which he does not now). Additionally, he would have known to have structured his retirement to include survivorship on his pension, which he did not. I realize his co-workers were in a difficult spot, so I'm not blaming them, but I'm hoping a few words from you might get the word out to others: Friends, when you notice someone is declining, please speak up. - Donna in Virginia DEAR DONNA: I'm sorry about your husband's diagnosis.

When members of the South Jersey chapter of the Alzheimer's Association head to Washington today for a public-policy forum, Gervase Peterson will be going with them. It's not that the Willingboro resident, whose smile captured viewers' fancy on the original Survivor show, doesn't have plenty else to do. In the last 18 months, he's shuttled between New Jersey and Los Angeles, appearing in a TV series; taping commercials, such as a soon-to-be released spot for Sunkist, a fruit drink; and providing the voice of the "first black president" in an online cartoon.

Sometimes, Carmel Snyder slips a family videotape into the VCR, sits back and finds refuge in the memories of the life she used to have with her husband, Bill. Bill Snyder, the husband who used to fix everything, the father who was "wonderful," today shuffles around his home with a "security" pillow tucked under his arm. At 63, he does not recognize his five children or his eight grandchildren, and his wife is his mother. He rarely says a word. He is already incontinent, and Carmel Snyder is preparing for the day he forgets how to eat. About eight years ago, Snyder was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

On the night of July 18, Anthony Sciamanna mixed a cocktail of orange juice, some old morphine pills and an antipsychotic drug. The plan, he would relate later, was to give a little to himself and his wife, Rose, so he could get some sleep. Rose, 71, had Alzheimer's disease and diabetes. Sciamanna, 74, said he was worn out from the round-the-clock care she needed. But early the next morning, Sciamanna, who has emphysema, found Rose gasping and gurgling after drinking the sleeping potion - accidentally, he said.

Bob Coppock, 77, is married to Barbara, 81, and he loves her. He gives her only the best: tips of asparagus, ice cream, kisses on the cheek at bedtime. Bob also loves another woman, Karla Jones, 60. Bob and Karla met nine years ago when Karla came to the house as a respite worker to give him a break from Barbara, who has Alzheimer's disease. As Karla watched Bob care so tenderly for his wife, she fell in love with him. Now Bob and Karla are lovers. And all three - Bob, Barbara and Karla - live together in a relationship Bob describes as "win-win-win.

Saturday Grow with neighbors The eighth annual Growing the Neighborhood Volunteer Day is scheduled Saturday at FDR Park. The Fairmount Park Conservancy, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department, and Friends of FDR Park will host the volunteer day from 8 a.m. to noon. Dozens of community members and corporate volunteers will gather to clean up the park. Workers are asked to wear long pants and closed-toed shoes. Children will be able to take a tour of a fire truck, fish in FDR Lake, play at a new playground, and learn about the environment.

CHICAGO - Doug Wyman got up early Tuesday to make breakfast for his wife, Barbara: coffee, oatmeal and fresh fruit. He drew a bath and helped her get dressed, then sat with her through her favorite morning TV shows. Not because it was Valentine's Day. Because of love. After 63 years of marriage, the couple developed their routine when Alzheimer's disease left Barbara unable to do things herself. But it's a routine that Doug Wyman - like a growing number of men who have assumed the role of caregiver in recent years - embraces proudly.

Marie Verna Tarquini, 82, formerly of Dresher, a teacher and community volunteer, died Thursday, June 7, of Alzheimer's disease at Artman Lutheran Home in Ambler. The daughter of Italian immigrants, Mrs. Tarquini grew up in Roxborough and graduated from Roxborough High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in early-childhood education at Temple University as a scholarship student. At Temple, she met her future husband, Francis J. Tarquini. They married in 1952. While raising four children in Ambler and Fort Washington, Mrs. Tarquini was a Brownie leader and was active with the Ambler Junior Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters.

Jason Karlawish, associate director of the Penn Memory Center, was impressed when he heard that 59-year-old Pat Summitt had gone public with her diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and that the University of Tennessee was letting her stay on as its women's basketball coach. As the retirement age creeps upward and doctors get better at diagnosing dementia earlier in its course, increasing numbers of people will grapple with how to stay productive as their minds falter. Meanwhile, employers, families, and friends will need to figure out how to deal with workers who may still have a lot to offer but need support.

The body that Marine Unit police found Saturday in the Wissahickon Creek was identified Tuesday as a missing Roxborough man, David Taundi, his father said Tuesday. "It's a nightmare. That's the only way to describe it," Josiya Taundi said of losing his son, who was recalled as a good-spirited humanitarian. David Taundi, 33, had been missing since Dec. 15, when his vehicle was involved in a fiery crash on Henry Avenue near the creek. "There's a lot of speculation," Josiya Taundi said of the incident.

Louise G. Fradkin, 85, of Levittown, cofounder of Children of Aging Parents, a nonprofit volunteer support group, died Tuesday, Feb. 12, of natural causes at her home. Mrs. Fradkin cofounded Children of Aging Parents in 1977 after her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, a disease Mrs. Fradkin herself suffered from in later years. CAPS grew into a national organization that focused on outreach and education for caregivers of the elderly. During the 1980s and 1990s, Mrs. Fradkin wrote or cowrote numerous publications related to her work, including the chapter "Caregiving" in the book Our Bodies, Ourselves, Growing Older . She also wrote and edited Aging Parents and Common Sense: A Practical Guide for You and Your Parents . Mrs. Fradkin was an associate editor of Dictionary of Eldercare Terminology and Home Care Planning . As part of her work with CAPS, Mrs. Fradkin helped organize workshops, seminars, and speaking engagements and made numerous TV appearances.

DEAR ABBY: My 62-year-old husband was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and I have since learned that his co-workers spotted his troubles long before I did at home. Had I been informed, he could possibly have retired on disability and have Medicare today (which he does not now). Additionally, he would have known to have structured his retirement to include survivorship on his pension, which he did not. I realize his co-workers were in a difficult spot, so I'm not blaming them, but I'm hoping a few words from you might get the word out to others: Friends, when you notice someone is declining, please speak up. - Donna in Virginia DEAR DONNA: I'm sorry about your husband's diagnosis.

BOSTON - Combined results from two studies of an experimental Alzheimer's drug suggest that it might modestly slow mental decline, especially in patients with mild disease. Taken separately, the studies on the drug - Eli Lilly & Co.'s solanezumab - missed their main goals of significantly slowing the mind-robbing disease or improving activities of daily living. But pooled results found 34 percent less mental decline in mild-Alzheimer's patients compared with those on a placebo treatment for 18 months.

DEAR ABBY: My mother's Alzheimer's became apparent after she was in a car accident. I should have noticed the signs earlier, but I didn't. Her body recovered, her mind did not. I built a new house with a separate suite for her. My wife and I tried to care for her for a year, but I'm disabled and Mom was afraid of my wife. There was never a moment's peace. Fearing for our collective health, I finally placed Mom into an assisted living facility. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life.

WASHINGTON - For people with Alzheimer's disease, a hospital stay may prove catastrophic. A new study highlights the lingering ill effects: Being hospitalized seems to increase the chances of Alzheimer's patients moving into a nursing home - or even dying - within the next year, Harvard researchers reported Monday. The risk is higher if those patients experience what's called delirium, a state of extra confusion and agitation, during their stay. It's not clear exactly why, although specialists say delirium is especially bad for an already damaged brain.

Marie Verna Tarquini, 82, formerly of Dresher, a teacher and community volunteer, died Thursday, June 7, of Alzheimer's disease at Artman Lutheran Home in Ambler. The daughter of Italian immigrants, Mrs. Tarquini grew up in Roxborough and graduated from Roxborough High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in early-childhood education at Temple University as a scholarship student. At Temple, she met her future husband, Francis J. Tarquini. They married in 1952. While raising four children in Ambler and Fort Washington, Mrs. Tarquini was a Brownie leader and was active with the Ambler Junior Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters.

William B. McNamee told his grandson a secret about memory, even as he was losing his own memory to Alzheimer's. One day, we'll be strangers . . . but you can remember the way we held hands when the wind moves through your fingers. McNamee, an orthopedic surgeon from Drexel Hill, died in 2003. Six years later, as Matthew Ross Smith drove along the Schuylkill - with a hand out the window in the early-spring breeze - his grandfather's words came back to him. Thus was born the Spaces Between Your Fingers Project, which offers people across America a chance to connect by tracing their handprints on postcards.

CHICAGO - Doug Wyman got up early Tuesday to make breakfast for his wife, Barbara: coffee, oatmeal and fresh fruit. He drew a bath and helped her get dressed, then sat with her through her favorite morning TV shows. Not because it was Valentine's Day. Because of love. After 63 years of marriage, the couple developed their routine when Alzheimer's disease left Barbara unable to do things herself. But it's a routine that Doug Wyman - like a growing number of men who have assumed the role of caregiver in recent years - embraces proudly.

Saturday Grow with neighbors The eighth annual Growing the Neighborhood Volunteer Day is scheduled Saturday at FDR Park. The Fairmount Park Conservancy, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department, and Friends of FDR Park will host the volunteer day from 8 a.m. to noon. Dozens of community members and corporate volunteers will gather to clean up the park. Workers are asked to wear long pants and closed-toed shoes. Children will be able to take a tour of a fire truck, fish in FDR Lake, play at a new playground, and learn about the environment.