LYNDA FERGUSON
Early-onset Alzheimer’s sends family into tailspin
UPDATE Feb. 5, 2010
In the grip of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, Lynda Ferguson once spent her waking hours detached from the world around her. But in recent weeks, a bright new world has opened up for this 45-year-old grandmother.
Thanks to the generosity of Palm Beach Post readers who contributed to the 2009 Season to Share holiday drive, Ferguson is attending the Alzheimer’s Community Care Center in Riviera Beach, where she’s tried out Wii bowling, as well as other physical and cognitive activities.
“She’s smiling. She looks great. … She tries to be involved in whatever is going on in the room,” says Joan Reedy, grants administrator for Alzheimer’s Community Care, the agency that nominated Ferguson for The Post’s annual Season to Share drive.
This year’s drive, which featured 14 local nominees, brought in $624,999.81, a remarkable sum in a year when charities have struggled across the country to raise funds. The outpouring of community support will benefit not only the nominees and their agencies, but other families in need as well. In addition, the Quantum Foundation has matched individual gifts of $50 to $500.
At Alzheimer’s Community Care, this year’s donations will pay for a full year of day care for Ferguson, as well as benefit another wait-listed patient, says Reedy.
At $55 per day, the center had been out of reach for Ferguson’s caregivers, her elderly parents who support the family on meager Social Security checks.
“This has been a godsend for this family,” says Reedy.
It is a sentiment echoed by Ferguson’s mother, Frances Powell, a 66-year-old heart patient who had her fourth pacemaker installed last year. She drives her daughter to the day care center each weekday morning and picks her up in the late afternoon.
“She doesn’t understand a lot of things going on, but I see she greets everyone over there,” says Ferguson’s mother. “It’s a relief for me.”
ORIGINAL STORY:
By BARBARA MARSHALL
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The pretty woman in the flowered dress nods happily when her name is mentioned, but her gaze is vacant, her face uncomprehending.
Just 45, Lynda Ferguson, is slipping away, her memories being obliterated by early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Each day, her family loses a bit more of the once-vital woman who loved nice clothes, high heels and life itself.
“She was wise and confident — she was my best friend — but it’s not my mom in here anymore,” said her daughter, Alexia, laying a protective hand on her mother’s shoulder.
And Alexia, 23, could use her mom right now. She has a 9-month old daughter, Jordin, and is attending medical assistant’s school.
At first Alexia and her grandmother, Frances Powell, Lynda’s mother, refused to believe someone so young could have Alzheimer’s. But uncontrolled high blood pressure caused a series of mini-strokes, which destroyed parts of Lynda’s brain.
A former home health care aide, Lynda began wandering late at night. Several times, Alexia had to call the police to search for her. In desperation, Alexia moved the three of them into her grandparents’ Riviera Beach home. Four generations are crowded in a little house, freshly painted the color of a creamsicle.
Inside, there is plenty of love — and worry.
Lynda’s father, James, is retired and helps when he can. But the burden of caring for Lynda and baby Jordin falls to Frances, 66, a heart patient who recently had her fourth pacemaker installed.
Although 45 years apart, Lynda and her granddaughter require similar care in bathing, feeding and dressing.
“It’s like taking care of two kids,” said Frances, who is straining her already fragile health — and her meager Social Security checks.
Lynda could get specialized care at the Alzheimer’s Community Care Center in Riviera Beach, which may slow the progress of her disease. But the family can’t afford the $55-a-day fee. Lynda’s $708 monthly Social Security disability payments don’t even cover her medicine.
Because she was stricken so young, Lynda doesn’t qualify for government Alzheimer’s aid, which applies only to those 60 and over. Day care also would allow the family to keep Lynda at home, instead of having to do the unthinkable: Send this once-spirited daughter to a nursing home.
LYNDA FERGUSON’S WISH
Stricken with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease after a series of strokes, 45-year-old Lynda Ferguson needs funding for Alzheimer’s day care. A donation of $28,840 would allow Lynda to take part in a specialized program so her family could keep her at home. It would also cover the cost of some of her medicines.
Her mother, who has serious heart disease, is caring for Lynda, as well as Lynda’s 9-month-old granddaughter, but can’t continue. The baby’s mother, Alexia, is attending school. At present, four generations are living in the family’s Riviera Beach house, where the only income is the grandparents’ Social Security and Lynda’s small disability check.
