Don’t Forget to Dance
A Unique Alzheimer's Journey -
from Bizarre to Blissful
Don’t Forget to Dance is a memoir of Marc and his wife Mary’s journey through early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The story portrays many unforeseen and bizarre complications—including multiple identities—and how they handled them in unique ways. There were periods filled with lots of distress and near disasters that turned the couple’s lives upside down. But it’s also an encouraging love story that will inspire readers on any life journey—showing how a supportive and even happy relationship can be fostered through such dire circumstances, and how Mary prepared her heart, mind and spirit for years before her diagnosis, providing an unexplainable inner peace during later years.
First Edition
Welcome to Marc Alderdice's website featuring his Alzheimer's memoir:
DON'T FORGET TO DANCE: A Unique Alzheimer's Journey - from Bizarre to Blissful
My wife, Mary, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s at the young age of fifty-nine. Don’t Forget to Dance is a memoir of our journey related to this debilitating disease and how, together, we overcame unforeseen and bizarre complications in unique ways. Since some of her relatives had Alzheimer’s, Mary knew she might get the disease, so she consciously prepared her heart, mind and spirit for the possibility years before any problems surfaced. Still, the diagnosis was devastating and then two years later, she started to not only display many fears, delusions, and hallucinations that often accompany Alzheimer’s—but she also exhibited multiple distinct personalities. She thought children were being tortured behind our closet wall, and she started believing I was beating her every day and had been all her life. The problems escalated. Several times while I was driving, she started yelling at me, telling me I was going the wrong way and tried to jump out of the car.
The book presents these horrific times in our journey and how we handled them, but it’s also a love story, showing how a supportive and even happy relationship can be fostered during such dire circumstances. I believe my memoir—heart-warming, heart-wrenching, humorous—will help people dealing with Alzheimer’s to have a more positive and hopeful mindset and will remind readers that no matter what life throws at us, we can still be happy if we don’t forget to “dance.”
Published by Transcending Autumn Books
An imprint dedicated to helping seniors navigate the journey of growing older with more knowledge, reasonable expectations and clearer forethought for a better experience through aging.