John couldn’t bring himself to see the mental decline of his wife, so he accepted the position in New York. When Anna gave birth to twins, Alice understood that those babies were her grandchildren. There were also moments when her mind clarified. She started confusing names of her children or forgetting about them at all. Her mental abilities declined greatly and her past was almost fully erased from her memory. Later on, she organized the support group for people like her, who suffer from early dementia. That was a rather big tragedy for her, for she had spent 25 years of her life there. Alice had to finish her career at Harvard after receiving low grades for her teaching performance. Then, when it was impossible to ignore it or argue with it, he tried to find new methods of curing. She was afraid that her grandchildren might also have it.īeing a cancer cell biologist, John refused to believe what Alice was ill and tried to prove that diagnose was wrong. Anna’s results proved that she inherited it and this saddened Alice even more.

Anna and Tom decided to take a test in order to find out whether they had that gene. Only Lydia didn’t hesitate, for she sensed the truth.

When she reviled it to her family, they couldn’t believe her. Afraid to tell her husband, John, and their three children, Anna, Tom and Lydia, she decided to keep her situation a secret. When Alice was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she was crushed. The lapses escalated after her 50th birthday. After a conference during which she forgot a word and an incident with her organizer in a restaurant, she started really worrying. The biggest thing which troubled her was frequent memory lapses. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.Īlice Howland, a Harvard professor of psycholinguistics, whose splendid cognitive abilities could awe anybody, had everything that could ensure a happy life. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

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