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Four Umbrellas

A Couple's Journey into Young-Onset Alzheimer's

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About this listen

A writing couple searches for answers when Alzheimer's causes one of them to lose the place where stories come from - memory.

At the age of 53, Tony walks away from a life of journalism and into an unknown future dogged by self-doubt and financial worry. June is 48 years old then, a writer and a teacher, and over the following nine years she watches as her husband gradually changes - in interests, goals, and behavior - until Tony has a sudden fall, ending their life as they have known it.

While it will be another seven years before they receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer's, the signs of dementia are all around. A suitcase Tony packs for a trip contains four umbrellas jammed into every available space, a visual symbol of cognitive looping. But how far back do these signs go? The two of them begin looking, researching, and remembering - and make some surprising discoveries about Alzheimer's that lead to one undeniable conclusion: This is not an old person's disease.

©2020 June Hutton and Tony Wanless (P)2020 Tantor Alzheimer's & Dementia Medical Physical Illness & Disease Professionals & Academics Dementia Alzheimer's Disease
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This heartbreakingly honest account of early onset Alzheimer's echoes many of my experiences with my mother. Medical professionals ask the same questions, easily answered by a newspaper and news obsessed individual, but does not pick up the blankness in her cheerful answer of "Yes" when she hasn't understood a word you've said. The lack of a robust pathway to diagnosis is not confined to the USA or UK I imagine. I'm glad I listened. I needed to hear that my experience is,sadly, not unique.

Searingly Honest

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So often people’s understanding of dementia is that of older people with advanced disease. This book shares the reality of the condition from the early stages. It shows the distress that the insight of a progressive condition can bring to both the person living with it, and their loved ones, with a particular focus on young onset. Text books can teach us about the brain changes, but it’s only books likes these, with individual stories that will truly help us to learn the reality of living with dementia. A must read.

An honest look at the reality of living life with young onset dementia

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Four umbrellas, June Hutton and Tony Wanless. Very informative about early onset dementia and how the affected and the carer cope with the changing nature of this condition. Recommended listen. Thank you for this included book.

Honest and informative

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