Eulalee Thompson

The year 2005 found busy Kingston-based attorney-at-law, Dundeen Ferguson, struggling with issues of life and death. Not her own, but that of her dearly, beloved mother, Ruby; entering a phase of rapid physical and mental decline resulting from Alzheimer's disease, doctors in Canada had given her just three months to live.

In a September 21, 2005, interview published in the Gleaner's Health section, Dundeen's pain was palpable. She said in that interview: "It is painful when I look at my once vibrant mother and now her memory is gone and the behaviour change; it's sad. Now she's like a child. Mommy is wearing pampers, she's like a baby."

Now, two years later, Ruby, Dundeen's mommy, is still alive, in spite of the three-month projection, and, Dundeen is still in pain but has learnt to come to terms with it.

"I am centred now. I am letting go, recognising that I can deal with it much better. I used to cry a lot, quietly, that's a process, but now I'm stronger in dealing with it now. I recognise that there will be a point when she will die of the disease," she said.

Ruby, now 77 years old, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when she was 69. She was living in Canada at the time and continues to live there in a special home.

Support group

Dundeen continues to divert her painful energies into public education and into a support group which she established two years ago for the relatives of persons with Alzheimer's; beside the Kingston-based group, another one is up and coming in Mandeville, Manchester. Dundeen hopes to make more Jamaicans aware of the condition and get help for relatives in the early stages when quality of life can be improved.

On World Alzheimer's Day, observed last Friday, September 21, through Dundeen's effort, the chairperson of Alzheimer's International, Orien Reid, was on the island, spending the day in support of Jamaicans with relatives living with the degenerative brain disease.

Persons with Alzheimer's (usually 60 years and older) experience a progressive decline in memory, thinking, comprehension, calculation, language, learning capacity and judgement. These patients often forget the names of even their closest and dearest significant others. They experience difficulty in self care and in completing any goal-directed task. With no cure on the near horizon, the focus of disease management is on caring for and making the patients feel as loved and comfortable as is possible.

Prayers and faith

In the case of Dundeen's mother, there has been a noticeable decline in her health over the two-year period. She now speaks no words at all; she has lost more weight and because, sometimes she doesn't want to eat, she has to be placed on supplements.

"In 2005, she was eating ... with the three-month projection, she was very ill; it was a time when we thought that we would lose her ... when the doctor said three months to pass on we didn't take it well, but with prayers and faith she is still with us ... we don't know when but we are making her comfortable.

Dundeen and her siblings rally around their mother. Though she is not mobile they still lift her and take her to family gatherings, Christmas parties and her own birthdays are celebrated in fine style, there in Canada, with toasting, merrymaking and all.

"We make much noise and give her toasts and she just sits there looking like 'what the hell are they doing', said Dundeen before breaking out into unrestrained laughter.

Nevertheless, the family's joy is in caring for a mother who had been dedicated to them while they were growing up; they want to repay her in the best way they know how.