Alzheimer's is an awful disease.
It's a chronic neurodegenerative disease that causes one's mind to fail — slowly at first, and then more rapidly. Advanced Alzheimer's patients become completely dependent on their caregivers who, most of the time, they don't even recognize. Few things are more painful than watching someone you love go through the pain of losing the ability to communicate.
As awful as it is, the extent to which Alzheimer's affects the brain is also very difficult for many people to grasp. That's why photos such as the one in today's story are so incredibly powerful.
Redditor wuillermania's mother loves to crochet. She always has.
The first pieces of crochet look pretty standard.
Moving to the second row of crochet work, you begin to see things unravel a bit.
The third row of crochet squares is drastically different.
In the fifth row, there's a huge change in Wuillermania's mom's handiwork.
At the bottom of Wuillermania's picture are two knotted lengths of yarn. They don't resemble actual crochet at all.
Here's a picture showing the entire progression:
from pics
Another Redditor replied to Wuillermania's compelling image with a painting done by their own mother:
"I've been through almost the very same thing with my mother too," they wrote. Their family decided to have one of her last great painting professionally frame. "The painting is of our family cottage, which was her very favourite place to be. It's not blue in real life, but it was how she saw the sun and the colour that day. She was always obsessed with colour, even as her health and lucidity declined... Her hospital room is papered with not only photos of family, but also of photos of brightly coloured flowers."Here's another group of pictures that shows the progression of Alzheimer's from another painter's perspective:
The paintings were created by artist William Utermohlen. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1995 and began creating many self-portraits as the disease worsened. By the year 2000, he no longer recognized his own face.Alzheimer's is a horrifying disease, but those who suffer from it aren't completely without joy in their lives.
This touching video shows a mother with Alzheimer's sharing an incredibly sweet moment with her beloved daughter.
If you'd like to donate to Alzheimer's research, you can do so at alz.org.