The word that I had been dreading hearing for 45 years hit me like a stab to the heart. Team Bryan had assembled together to brainstorm ways to get Bryan to clean his room, stop being so angry, pay attention to staff, remember to do things, and other assorted misdemeanors. Their suggested conclusion? Bryan was in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. Based on their prior observations.

I was dumbfounded. Yes, I know the research. Up to ninety+ percent of individuals with Down Syndrome Trisomy 21 variety will get the disease. The three chromosomes responsible for Down Syndrome cause an overproduction and extra accumulation of amyloid precursor protein in the brain, forming the toxic plaques. Also, abnormal tau protein tangles form inside the brain cells. Not exactly a stellar outlook. It’s pretty much an inevitability.

After enduring years of monthly monitoring meetings where Bryan’s “sins” would be listed in a never-ending litany of offences, I wondered if they were right. I was so tired of hearing what he couldn’t/wouldn’t do and I’m sure he felt the same. It’s depressing and exhausting.

In the meeting, I suggested we talk to the family doctor and get the name of a professional psychologist who could look into the matter and, perhaps, give us suggestions on how to deal with the myriad things with which they were concerned.

We met with a wonderful neuropsychologist who interviewed us for an hour, then tested Bryan for three hours. Next week we will consult with him and hear his findings. He does agree with me that the behaviors manifested by Bryan in the home go along with his ADHD and OCD. How to separate Alzheimer’s symptoms from those mental health diagnoses? I also suspect he has clinical depression. How much trauma he has suffered in his lifetime! I know I still reel from it. How can he deal with it when making sense of the world is sometimes a real challenge to him?

The doctor outlined some very practical strategies to me in a phone call this week, echoing the suggestions I had been giving to the staff for years. Perhaps it will be implemented at the doctor’s behest since I’m “just the mom”.

I’m so tired of the constant negativity and I’m sure Bryan is as well. I am hoping and praying that next week will provide some more answers and ideas which staff will heed and which will make my son happy once again.

Meanwhile, Bryan is competing this weekend at Villanova in the State Special Olympics games in long distance race-walking. Exercise has been proven to ward off symptoms of the dread disease. And so he soldiers on, unaware of that lurking enemy that may already be wreaking havoc in his brain.

Please pray for us all.