Jan's Story: Love Lost to the Long Goodbye of Alzheimer's
By Barry Petersen and Katie Couric
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Written by Scribd Editors
CBS News Correspondent Barry Peterson married the love of his life. At that time, he and Jan were just like any other couple. He didn’t know how complex his vow, “until death do us part,” would be. Only 55 years old, Jan began to show signs of early-onset Alzheimer’s.
In Jan’s Story: Love Lost to the Long Goodbye of Alzheimer’s, Barry learns to embrace the reality that his wife will eventually forget him and their life together. Though he can still visit her and speak with her, she is much different from the women he married twenty-five years ago.
With a foreword from Katie Couric, Barry Peterson tells his story and his experience watching Alzheimer’s disease claim his wife. He would have to make difficult health decisions for her on his own, some of which brought on criticism. Through it all, he could only make choices based on what was best for her as her mental health situation continued to change.
This touching and insightful memoir chronicles the pain and devastation of watching your loved one slip into Alzheimer’s. It is an emotional read for anyone, yet also comforting for those in a similar situation.
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Reviews for Jan's Story
3 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a heartbreaking true story of Barry Petersen's experience with his wife's early onset alzheimer's disease. Having experienced this with my father, it describes the helpless situation a loved one is in when dealing with this. Her gradual decline was so sad and what a sincere tribute to his beloved wife.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I know there are many who condemn Peterson for how he has handled this situation. I'm not one of them. Life is a continuum; his beautiful wife, Jan has all but slipped away due to early-onset Alzheimers. While they remain legally married, the true connections of marriage are no longer in place. He has not abandoned her; rather he has strengthened his ability to care for her as long as she remains physically present in the world. I would likely have had a different opinion on all of this if this story had presented prior to my being widowed, but there again is that life/continuum thingy.