From Cleveland-On Election Day 2016, I was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD). This early onset dementia brought my career as dean of Cleveland's Trinity Cathedral to an abrupt and unexpected end. Like millions around the globe, I now live with a neurological condition that is not fully understood, and for which there is limited treatment but no cure.
Dementia, per se, is not a disease, but rather, an umbrella covering a broad category of symptoms. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting 5.7 million Americans of all ages.
Dementia is in my DNA. My mother, maternal grandfather and two aunts all died with it. I watched my mother and others hide their dementia, ashamed and embarrassed, as if it were a weakness, a punishment, or even a sin. I liken dementia to cancer in the 1960s or AIDS in the 1980s - spoken of in hushed voices with an undercurrent of blaming the victim. If only she had eaten less red meat and more green vegetables; if only he had done a crossword puzzle every morning; if only she had practiced yoga or meditation for the past 10 years; and so on. No wonder people with dementia want to hide it.
More here-
https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/09/on_living_with_dementia_-_a_ca.html
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