At one point of time, former President of America, Ronald Reagan was said to have a photographic memory. His expertise at memorization proved to be an asset when he was an actor and when he auditioned for becoming a sports announcer. However, when the ex-US president marched into his 70s, things were no more the same (Lowman, 2011).
In 1993 it was observed that Reagan forgot many things, including the names of his aides, Cabinet officers and dignitaries. And during a regular annual health check-up at the Mayo Clinic in 1994, he was diagnosed with the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease (AD) - a type of dementia that affects memory, behavior and thinking (Lowman, 2011).
Experts say that the severity of AD increases gradually and most often the first symptom is forgetfulness. Indeed, this was the very symptom that Reagan showed in 1984, ten years before his actual diagnosis, when he appeared confused during a debate. However, no one close to him then could put a finger on the ex-president’s confusion and his early stages of AD went unnoticed. However, by 1992, the severity of Reagan’s AD increased and soon the president was unable to recognize people, faced sudden and severe memory loss, showed problems with speech and displayed depreciating cognitive skills on the whole (Lowman, 2011; A.D.A.M., 2014).
As is usually done, in the ex-president’s case too, AD was diagnosed based on physical and neurological tests and extensive observation in 1994. Earlier, in 1989 when Reagan underwent an operation, surgeons who opened his skull first detected likely signs of AD. However, at that time doctors presented no official diagnosis (Lowman, 2011; A.D.A.M., 2014).
Although there is no cure for AD, Reagan received the typical treatments given to patients, which included drug therapy, symptom management and support from kith and kin. His wife, Nancy, chose to keep him in semi-isolation in the hope that this would allow Reagan to cope better with the debilitating disease. Today stem-cell research has offered a ray of hope for AD patients, but when Reagan was diagnosed with the disease, the work was yet to receive a much-needed push.
The aftermath of AD as far as former President Ronald Reagan was concerned was that it took him away from being at the center of America. In the letter Reagan wrote to Americans announcing his diagnosis, the president effectively used a fatalistic tone when he said that he was now beginning his journey into the ‘sunset of life’. Reagan’s AD became more severe only after he completed his second term in the presidential office. According to his son, Ron Reagan, had he been diagnosed while in office, it might have even led him to stepping down from his position (Lowman, 2011).
References
Lowman S. (2011, January 14) President Reagan suffered from Alzheimer’s while in office, according to son. The Washinton Post. Retrieved from http://voices.washingtonpost.com/politicalbookworm/2011/01/president_reagan_sufferefrom.html
A.D.A.M. (2014, February 3) Alzheimer’s Disease. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/alzheimers-disease/overview.html
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