Memories in the making getting lost and no way to stop your loved ones from forgetting who you are: This is Alzheimer’s.
Four years after former Denver Broncos’ owner, Pat Bowlen, went public with the disease that would later take his life, his wife Annabel, disclosed her own diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. The Bowlen family, just like the Broncos team they built, are made of grit. With unshakable strength, their daughter Annabel, talks about how we can choose to win or lose with dignity when faced with the worst odds life has dealt her family.
She opens up about the shock, devastation and discouragement she felt on learning that her father had the incurable disease. She talks about the family’s painful decision to go public with his diagnosis, and offers advice and resources for anyone fighting Alzheimer’s. She also reveals how she discovered that her mother had the disease.
She talks about how the family turned to the Colorado Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association for support during those dark times, and how her family has helped raise more than $600,000 for the Denver Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
In this episode, Annabel is joined by Dr. Huntington Potter, Professor of Neurology and Director of the CU Alzheimer’s and Cognition Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and a member of Linda Crnic Center for Down Syndrome.
Dr. Potter discusses why Alzheimer’s has become one of the world’s most deadly diseases, the early warning signs that you may have it, and what you can do to slow its onset.
For the past seven years, Doctor Potter and his team at the Cognition Center have been working on new diagnoses and treatments for Alzheimer’s. They are hopeful that their soon-to-be released breakthrough research will bring a new treatment for Alzheimer’s.
“We are one very dedicated group of people,” he says. “We will never give up.”
Dr. Potter and Annabel Bowlen are united in their fight against Alzheimer’s. “The one memory I will take from my father’s legacy is do not back down,” she says. The best way to remain unstoppable is to keep fighting.
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