Alzheimer's Patients, Family Share Stories To Cope

DENVER (CBS4)- American adults are more afraid of getting Alzheimer's than heart disease, stroke or diabetes. In a new survey only fear of cancer ranked higher.

That same survey, from MetLife Foundation also showed that most Americans have done little to prepare for Alzheimer's. Every 70 seconds someone in the nation develops the disease. It's expected that 10 million baby boomers will either die with, or from, the disease.

"I guess like a lot of people I went into kind of shock. Why me?" said one person in the Taking Action workshop.

One Wednesday each month, people with Alzheimer's and some of their family, crowd a conference room for a workshop. It's called Taking Action and encourages those to discuss the debilitating brain disease.

"There's nothing I can do much about it, but at least we're not getting angry at each other anymore," said another workshop member.

"He was on national TV for 20 years with the microphone in front of 75,000 screaming fans and ended up in diapers," said Bob Frederic.

Frederic's father, Rand Frederic, watched his father slowly die of Alzheimer's. He had been an NFL referee for 20 years.

"My first thought was, 'Do I have six weeks or seven weeks to live?,'" said Alzheimer's patient Leland Shelton.

Now four years from diagnosis, Shelton and his wife stay educated.

The survey also indicates 62 percent of Americans know little about Alzheimer's and only 18 percent are planning for its possibility.

There are plenty of resources at the Alzheimer's Association, yet of the 72,000 Coloradans diagnosed only about one third use the services.

The MetLife Foundation Survey on Alzheimer's was conducted by Harris Interactive.

Related Link: Alzheimer's Association - Colorado Chapter