What does Alzheimer's look like? This is Nana. This is what Alzheimer's looks like, for my family at least. It's been 10+ years since the diagnosis, and we've been lucky to have so much time with her. It's been harder on us, her family, her caregivers, than it probably has been for her.

It's the constant, repeated questions. It's not remembering they saw you yesterday or talked to you earlier in the day. It's not remembering where an item is placed. It's not remembering they've started cooking something on the stove. It's forgetting you need to add laundry detergent to a load of laundry. It's reliving past events like they happened yesterday. It's arguments over the simplest things. It's caregivers trying to help, only to be met with anger and hostility. It's them living in an alternate reality where you don't know what to trust if what they're saying is true. It's having to place them in a home after your grandfather passes away because it's too difficult to provide the 24 hour care they need. It's the guilt of the family for feeling as if they've abandoned her, even though it's the best thing they can do for her. It's the phone calls late at night to your mother where she cries, repeatedly asking go get her and being her home and knowing you can't do anything. It's a mother unable to physically recognize her own children. This is real life. This is the life of loving someone with Alzheimer's.

I can only hope that one day families will not have to go through the same thing. I can't do it without your help. Please consider donating or joining me on Sunday as I Walk to End Alzheimer's.