Alzheimer’s Association can help
There are so many people like Perez who are thrown into situations like these, which are overwhelming and challenging. By the time her mom was at the hospital, that’s when she got introduced to more resources, that’s when she learned about the Alzheimer’s Association and her only regret is not finding them sooner.
“The Alzheimer’s Association was amazing, you meet people that can relate to you because they’ve walked the same shoes as you,“ she explains. People that have a family member that has Alzheimer’s can get resources and even a great support system from the Alzheimer’s Association. “You have this great network where you could just release—if you want to cry, you can just cry and they understand.” The Alzheimer’s Association even has a library of books that she would borrow instead of having to go out and buy them.
“The 24/7 hotline; I can’t even tell you how many times I called them crying, confused, asking them, ‘Am I doing this right, could I be doing something better, can you give me feedback?’ Every time I called, the person on the other line walked me through things and gave me feedback that I was able to use,” she says.
She’s met a lot of people that don’t know anything about this disease and many joked about it, saying, ”I have Old Timer’s because they forget things and it’s a joke, but the reality is that you don’t even have to be old to get this disease because there are people being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at 40 years old and 40 is not old.”
”Alzheimer’s is fatal, there’s no cure for this, you can’t prevent it, there are no survivors that I know of and it progresses, and it’s so much more than the person forgetting things because I witnessed my mom forgetting things to her body breaking down…things that she could do before and now she couldn’t do,” she explains. Things like bed sores from laying in bed all day, she also lost her teeth because she forgot to brush them and they had to extract them.
“I’m 100% fearful of getting the disease, I would never want my children, my husband to see what I had to see with my mom,” she says. Even with her mother in the nursing home, she noticed others walking around one day and the next day, they could no longer walk.
Her mother passed away at the age of 74, but during the last 6 or 7 years, she’s been very active with the Alzheimer’s Association. She does walks, fundraising, and volunteers because they were her support when she needed help and this is why it’s so important for her to share her story.
“I’m always trying to educate myself because Hispanics and women are at a higher risk. I try to eat healthier, I try to do everything I can, but all you can do is try because this can become anybody’s world—it’s a scary thing.”
