My path to Supporting Alzheimer’s. by Susan Brushaber

I was abandoned as a baby and found by my Grandparents when I was round 3 years old. My Grandmother Dorothy never had a daughter, so she was overjoyed to be raising a little girl. She loved dressing me up and fixing my hair. She was a hairstylist before becoming a homemaker and passed that trait on to me. My first career was being a Cosmologist just like her.

When I got married and started a family of my own, she was the primary caregiver for my three children while my husband and I were at work. They were the Joy of her life and she took great pride in helping us raise them.

When my grandmother was in her 70’s she started misplacing and forgetting things on a regular basis. She started becoming unbalanced as well. I remember on a trip to Florida she lost her balance, fell and broke her arm. From that time on she rapidly started to decline in memory and health. She started getting combative and started using foul language in which she never did before. It was very out of character for her, and was a very confusing and scary time for all of us.

Her next stage in decline included her constantly mumbling and getting lost. Soon after that, she was in full blown Alzheimer’s. She lost the ability to speak and she was always in somewhat of a catatonic state. As a family, we all did what we could to care for her. My Grandpa was a dedicated caregiver and she was able to pass away at home at age of 83. But we did lose her many years before her actual passing to this disease. Alzheimer’s is a tragic way to leave this world and a difficult loss for not only the deceased, but the family.

Several years later I was selling AVON at farmers markets and met this wonderfully kind lady Kari Ann Ryan who was selling Cookie Lee Jewelry at the time. She had a Grandmother that was suffering with Alzheimer’s at the time and was in a senior facility by then. Kari-Ann started Team Lost Souls to raise money for Alzheimer’s Disease to help others like her grandmother and mine. She inspired me to Join her team and help her make a difference in the lives of those who suffer from the terrible disease. I do the best I can to support the cause and it has improved my life as well with all the generous and caring people I have met along the way.

I am a Proud Team Advocate and Volunteer for LMJ’s Lost Souls Alzheimer’s Fund and very happy to have come along on the journey with this team and to now running our own nonprofit organization.

Susan and her Grandmother Dorothy.