Saw the interview both on 20/20 and GMA. Maybe it's just the stage I am in, but I can't help shaking my head and wondering about her true future. Doing brain puzzles to fend off AD? It's like pissing into the wind. She says she intends to win this battle...what is winning with AD? Fast progression? Extension of faculties for x-amount of time? I feel bad for her. I wouldnt wish this disease on anyone..it is CRUEL.
Just saw interview......It's heartbreaking for her and her young son. But it's heartbreaking for our spouses, children and families as well. If she wants to tell herself she's going to win, be my guest, God bless her and what ever she needs to get through the day. I think we all might of wish that she could bring a much needed, important awareness to this cruel, life robbing disease. As we all know there's only so long before people will turn from the ugliness of this disease and that will happen ........maybe I am being selfish that she might see a bigger picture in her diagnoses.....but then again I don't have the disease, at least yet. Actually that's what frustrates me most that the John Q public doesn't get it. She could be a Champion and actually win something greater (real strides for this disease) than a Basketball title but with such a hopeless, depressing, ugliest disease of all facing her .....I can't and won't blame her ......and let's be completely honest she has the finances I am sure for care and taking care of her son. I like the Cuomo piece on Congress retirement as being more informative. And I with exercise and mind puzzles .......laughable if you know but lay people will think "that's what I need to do so I don't get Alz" ok I'll stop ranting ............. :)
I got the feeling she is in complete denial right now which is not surprising. How many of our spouses are still in denial, still think they can beat it or an least it won't get the upper hand? I wonder if she will get in any trials? Or get genetic testing? Like many wealthy - Ronald Reagan, Charleton Heston, Glen Campbell, and Pat Summit - money will get them excellent care but they won't win. Of course if I had the money I would take my husband to Israel for the treatment they are doing that they claim will take them back two years and hold them for a while to give them a better quality of life. But, in the end the disease will win.
Could be denial, but she is an intelligent woman and I wonder if her use of the word "win" might be just habit due to her profession. The thought just came to me about having a positive attitude like she does. I believe she and the interviewer did discuss the fact that it is terminal. We often hear how a positive "beat it" attitude is helpful for those battling cancer, I wonder if such an attitude might postpone the worsening of AD. Something to think about.
When I saw the interview all I could think about were all the interviews that Christopher Reeve gave telling people that he would walk again. Yeah, right. He did this right up to the end.
If it was just his own fantasy OK, BUT . . . he participated in a Super Bowl commercial where a computer generated image of him stood up and got out of his wheelchair and ran away.
Spinal Cord doctors and organizations were swamped with requests for the treatment that "cured" him. In the end it seemed to me like just a cruel joke.
If you are in the public eye I think complete honesty is the only ethical route.
I asked people on Memory People what they thought. Most caregivers and those with AD thought there is denial - either complete or some anyway. We all know you can talk about the symptoms, even that it is terminal, but not grasp the reality of it. I think that is Pat Summit. In her mind she knows it is fatal, but in her heart she has not faced it. I would think in the early stages it would be hard to believe the reality. In time, she will have to face it and not be so 'brave' for the cameras.
Yes, I agree with that. But I can't help wondering, in the case of AD, what really is the value of being "realistic?' We all know we more or less brush over the grim details for the benefit of our spouses, so it seems funny that we're so determined here that Pat Summitt face reality.
Maybe it's what m-mman says above, that the problem is perpetrating a myth to the public, who are going to think crosswords and a treadmill will spare them.
Your right Emily her life, her "realistic" life is a nightmare to come. I think we are all feeling like she could of been a strong voice to break through the myth's and show the ugly story of this disease to a country that runs away from it. But maybe it is we who are being unfair, the disease leaves no dignity, no living life, no compassion to it's victims. It leaves us I guess ............it's really a question I ponder daily ...........no answers today :(