Four Umbrellas

A Couple's Journey into Young-Onset Alzheimer's

By: June Hutton, Tony Wanless

Narrated by: Tanya Eby, Stephen R. Thorne

A writing couple searches for answers when Alzheimer's causes one of them to lose the place where stories come from - memory.

At the age of 53, Tony walks away from a life of journalism and into an unknown future dogged by self-doubt and financial worry. June is 48 years old then, a writer and a teacher, and over the following nine years she watches as her husband gradually changes - in interests, goals, and behavior - until Tony has a sudden fall, ending their life as they have known it.

While it will be another seven years before they receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer's, the signs of dementia are all around. A suitcase Tony packs for a trip contains four umbrellas jammed into every available space, a visual symbol of cognitive looping. But how far back do these signs go? The two of them begin looking, researching, and remembering - and make some surprising discoveries about Alzheimer's that lead to one undeniable conclusion: This is not an old person's disease.

©2020 June Hutton and Tony Wanless (P)2020 Tantor

too close to home

but an amazingly useful insight for our family - we allthank you for your story!

Could barely get through this

It sounds as if a robot is reading this. Please authors, don’t read your own books.