Simpsonville Woman's Memoir Touches Upon the Anguish of Alzheimer's

Around 80,000 people across the state are living with Alzheimer's. In a self-published memoir, a daughter recounts how her afflicted father and family coped with the disease that eventually claimed his life in 2006.

Mary Ellen Koch, of Simpsonville, reportedly wrote her self-published, "The Sixth Battle," to preserve her family history and raise awareness about Alzheimer's, a leading cause of death that is only expected to grow in prevalence as the Baby Boom generation ages, according to a Greenville News report.

In hallucinations, Horace Lennon, a World War II vet from Taylors, would often relive battles fought decades before.

Nighttime was especially hard for him, as it is for many people with Alzheimer’s disease, she said. “Sundowning” often comes with combativeness, hallucinations and paranoia, Koch told the newspaper.

“When you’re dad is crawling on the floor because he thinks there are enemy soldiers, how do you handle that?” Koch asked in the news article.

Koch recounts how, daily, she went to her parents' house each morning to dress her father, before he stopped getting out of bed.

Koch's memoir illustrates many of the challenges faced by countless others whose loved ones suffer from a disease with no cure.

To read the original article, click here.

To order the book from Amazon, click here.