Her ability to use language, that thing that most separates humans from animals, was leaving her, and she was feeling less and less human as it departed. She’s said a tearful good-bye to okay some...

It’s the closest place to nowhere that she can think of. And nowhere is exactly where she wants to be today.

And you, Mom. I loved you. You’ve asked if i felt and understood that you loved me. of course I did. And you know this. I loved your love because it kept me safe and...

Prioritizing hurt, a reminder that the clock was ticking, that some things would be left undone.

She liked being reminded of butterflies. She remembered being six or seven and crying over the fates of the butterflies in her yard after learning that they lived for only a few days. Her mother...

Why? What’s wrong with being emotional about this? why is that a negative thing? Why isn’t the emotional decision the right decision?” asked the woman who wasn’t crying.

Be creative, be useful, be practical, be generous and finish big

She wished she had cancer instead. She’d trade Alzheimer’s for cancer in a heartbeat. She felt ashamed for wishing this, and it was certainly a pointless bargaining, but she permitted herself the fantasy anyway. With...

… just because [butterflies’] lives were short didn’t mean they were tragic… See, they have a beautiful life.

Accepting the fact that she did indeed have Alzheimer’s, that she could only bank on two unacceptably effective drugs available to treat it, and that she couldn’t trade any of this in for some other,...

Her mother was Jewish, but her father had insisted that she and Anne be raised Catholic. So she went to mass every Sunday as a child, received communion, went to confession, and was confirmed, but...

I’m so sorry I have this. I can’t stand the thought of how much worse this is going to get. I can’t stand the thought of looking at you someday, and this face I love,...

I smile, loving him for changing with me, for going where my Neglect has taken us, for getting the new me.

And while a bald head and a looped ribbon were seen as badges of courage and hope, her reluctant vocabulary and vanishing memories advertised mental instability and impending insanity. Those with cancer could expect to...

She looked him directly in the eye. A colleague of hers had once told her that eye contact with another person for more than six seconds without looking away or blinking revealed a desire for...

The well-being of a neuron depends on its ability to communicate with other neurons. Studies have shown that electrical and chemical stimulation from both a neuron’s inputs and its targets support vital cellular processes. Neurons...

My yesterdays are disappearing, and my tomorrows are uncertain, so what do I live for? I live for each day. I live in the moment. Some tomorrow soon, I’ll forget that I stood before you...

Anyone could be seduced by research when the results poured in. The trick was to love it when the results weren’t forthcoming, and the reasons why were elusive.