Everyone has loved ones, but imagine if one day those loved ones became completely non-existent to a person. 5.5 million people experience this terrible feeling. It's a disease called Alzheimer's. Early Onset Alzheimer’s is a rare and grueling disease which affects Alice, the main character in the novel Still Alice by Lisa Genova. Although there is medication, there is nothing that will stop this terrible disease from slowly making a person forget everything they know and love. The main character, Alice, in the novel Still Alice, is only 50 years old. She is a professor at Harvard University, and is a very intelligent person. Alice starts to forget some minor parts of her life, which is no big deal, but eventually she starts to forget more important things. She goes on a run every, day but one day she forgot how to get home. “She knew she was in Harvard Square, but she didn't know which way was home” (Genova 21). These moments kept getting worse, so Alice went to a specialist. At age 50, she was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's. When she told her husband John, he refused to believe her at first. “Everyone forgets things. I can never remember where I put my glasses. Should this doctor diagnose me with Alzheimer's, too?”(79). Eventually, John accepts the fact that his wife is eventually not going to recognize him or even herself. Alice has three children, each having a 50% chance of getting Alzheimer's. Alice's daughter Anna has Alzheimer's, and she is trying to have
Suspecting that something is seriously wrong, and without the knowledge of her husband, John, Alice goes to see her doctor who refers her to a neurologist. After testing, Alice receives the stunning diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer 's. It is both numbing and terrifying for her. She is 50 years old. Alice struggles to tell John, who is a cancer cell biologist, because telling him will make it all "real". When she does, his reaction is almost cerebral and clinical. At first reluctant to believe her, John offers Alice no comfort. Instead he tells her he needs to find out more about Alzheimer 's.
This screenplay follows the protagonist Alice Howland, who is a professor of linguistics at Columbia University. Alice Howland is later diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, which turns her world completely upside down; especially given her career and ambitious nature. She becomes unable to perform normal everyday activities, and struggles with the loss of her independence. Alice’s husband, John, who is a physician, attempts to act as a guide for her through this time, but it ultimately puts a strain on their relationship. John’s job offer to move to Boston does not help matters either, and it quickly becomes the last straw for the two of them. He soon moves to New York to take the job after Alice’s memory starts to decay at a faster rate. John and Alice have 3 children, Lydia, Anna, and Tom as well as a son-in-law, Charlie. They are introduced at the beginning of the screenplay, as they all gather to celebrate Alice’s 50th birthday at a restaurant. This is also the time in which the audience notices her decline in normal conversation as she is unable to follow smoothly. Alice could be considered the catalytic hero of this screenplay, and the disease being the antagonist. Alice wants to hold on to as much of her memory that she can, and slow the regression by writing down everything. By Act 3, Alice loses her ability to do activities that she had been doing for many years; such as going out for her morning run without getting lost, remembering words, phrases, and
Living with an insidious cognitive declining illness, individuals diagnosed with early onset familial Alzheimer’s disease often fear losing their sense of self (Borrello et al. 2495). This theme is carried out in the film through the character of Alice, a 50 year old linguistics professor at Columbia University. The inevitable decline in memory, communication, and eventually independence strike those with the disease (Borrello et al. 2494), which will quickly affect not only themselves, but also relationships with others. In this essay, I will discuss the level of accuracy in the film, Still Alice, directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, by analyzing its display of knowledge on neurological and psychological
In the book, Still Alice, Alice Howland is happily married to a successful husband with three grown children with a house on the Cape. Alice is a Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices forgetfulness creeping into her life. As her memory begins to fail and confusion starts to darken her thinking, Alice receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease. Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle even as her sense of self is being stripped away, and she tries to live in the moment, Still Alice captures what it is like literally to lose your mind (Genova, 2007).
This has been the most interesting book I have read because the irony shown in this book as well as the emotion I felt throughout reading this was different from when I read other books. As a Harvard professor of psychology, it’s ironic how Alzheimer’s takes parts of her psychology. In addition, while reading Alice’s story, I felt connected to her and wanted to support her during her struggle with Alzheimer’s. My sympathy towards Alice, as many people in the book felt, taught me how someone in her shoes would
Alzheimer’s is a disorder that occurs when an individual’s brain cells begin to die gradually, over an unknown period of time. Those suffering from Alzheimer’s experience a multitude of symptoms such as not being able to identify family, friends, and acquaintances, having the incapacity to grasp new knowledge, and undergoing states of confusion.
Alzheimer's, the word strikes fear in some and an off-handed glance in others. The fact still remains that Alzheimer’s is an extremely shattering disease that removes the mind fraction by fraction over a period of time, this could even take decades. It begins as small memory lapses, slowly progressing to memory breaches but then progressively eroding your life to the point where around-the-clock care is the only option. With severe Alzheimer's, as we almost hear daily that patients have wandered off and gotten lost. In my own life, my grandfather was not even able to recognize his family members. Alzheimer's was a little known disease before 1960, but today it threatens to completely derail the health system in the United States.
“I want to tell you how much I miss my mother. Bits of her are still there. I miss her most when I sit across from her” was said by Candy Crawley. This quote is displaying how Alzheimer's disease can affect an individual and that person’s family and friends. Everyone in the world desires to keep the ones closest to that individual safe. Many people do not understand how traumatizing Alzheimer's disease is or can be. No one knows for sure what causes the disease. It could have a huge, dramatic alternation on any person’s life in an instant. It can be traumatizing because Alzheimer’s has many side effects, physical or emotional, to the individual. There are several reasons to why people in the world should know more about Alzheimer's disease,
Alice likes to spend time on her own and to run all over the city. After that the doctors discovered she had Alzheimer´s disease, then the whole plot tells us what is happening with her during the disease.
Alzheimer’s disease affects the world greatly, and the numbers of victims are growing. Alzheimer’s disease affects everyone affiliated with the sufferer. Alzheimer’s disease devastates the brain and its ability to function. The issue is sensitive, complicated, and is negatively impacting the world. Alzheimer’s disease may not always be fatal, but “Alzheimer’s disease has no survivors. It destroys brain cells and causes memory changes, erratic behaviors and loss of body functions. It slowly and painfully takes away a person’s identity, ability to connect with others, think, eat, talk, walk, and find his or her way home” (“What is Alzheimer’s”). This tragic disease impacts over five million people in the United States. Alzheimer’s disease touches all, and it is essential to understand the basics of Alzheimer’s.
“Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a slowly progressive disease of the brain that is characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by disturbances in reasoning, planning, language, and perception.” (Howard Crystal) In Health 1000 we were asked to read the book Still Alice. I have never dealt with or have done any study on Alzheimer’s disease before reading this book. After finishing this book it has really opened my eyes to how bad of a disease and how it cripples the mind. I never imagined the effect of this disease on a patient and the patient family. This book is about a upper middle aged lady named Alice who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and how she and her family learn how to deal with disease. One of the things this book
It is inevitable that eventually each of us will grow old and begin to face more and more health problems as our age rises. Elderly people are challenged by many illnesses and diseases that unfortunately, are incurable. One disease that becomes more common as people age is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s a common cause and a form of dementia and can severely damage a patient’s cognitive functions and can ultimately cause death. Living with Alzheimer’s disease can be saddening for both the sufferer and the family. Family and friends will find it very hard to cope when a loved one begins slipping away and losing memory of who they are.
Alzheimer’s disease slowly steals a person’s dignity and erases precious memories. The “Alzheimer’s Disease Guide”, found on WebMD explains that tasks become more difficult to do often leading to confusion and behavior changes. The article further explains the progression of the disease also brings hardship to family and friends (1). To best cope with Alzheimer’s we must better understand the disease.
Imagine a wife and husband being married for 44 years and having one of them not remember who the other is, or their past life together. The film Away From Her (Egoyan, et al., 2006) shows viewers how the disease can greatly impact your life, and how quickly it can form. The film was based off of a short story “The Bear Came over the Mountain” by Alice Munro (Munro, 2013). In both works, the author and the director portray a significant struggle between a husband and wife dealing with Alzheimer’s.
Still Alice (Genova, 2009) is a captivating debut novel about a 50-year-old woman’s sudden decline into early onset Alzheimer’s disease. The book is written by first time author Lisa Genova, who holds a PH.D in neuroscience from Harvard University. She’s also an online columnist for the national Alzheimer’s association. Her other books include Left Neglected and Love Anthony. She lives with her husband and two children in Cape Cod.