Stolen Mind: The Slow Disappearance of Ray Doernberg - Softcover

Doernberg, Myrna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0912697326 ISBN 13: 9780912697321

Publisher: Algonquin Books, 1986

Synopsis

A gripping medical mystery story. In August 1982, Myrna Doernberg and her two sons faced a family nightmare. "Something was happening to Ray," Myrna writes in the opening chapter of "Stolen Mind." Ray Doernberg, beloved husband and father, the center of a close-knit family, was slowing losing his memory and his abilities. Ray's doctors strove in vain to understand the progressive dementia that was destroying his life. It was not until a few months before Ray's death in 1984 that the family learned the truth about Ray's condition: it was Binswanger's Disease, a rare progressive dementia that mimics Alzheimer's. This is the story of a remarkable family, a very special marriage, and a very brave man facing impossible odds, who loses most of what he values in life but somehow clings to shreds of hope, his sense of humor, and his love for his family. Author Myrna Doernberg's frankness and sensitivity make this a book that will touch the heart of any reader.

(from the jacket)

About this title

About the Author

Myrna Doernberg lives in North Carolina and teaches learning-disabled children. She has appeared on national talk shows and spoken to groups of families and professional caregivers throughout the country about the personal and social issues pertaining to diseases of memory loss.

Reviews

The widow of a 48-year-old victim of Binswanger's Disease, a rare, hard-to-diagnose brain disorder with Alzheimer's-like dementia symptoms, recounts her husband's two-year ordeal, from the first signs of memory loss through a series of small strokes and epileptic seizures, which led to his death in 1984. Doernberg's journal provides objective details about the nature of the disorder and its inexorable progress, as well as a moving account of its emotional toll on herself and the couple's two sons. Most painful were Ray's personality changes and his mental "absence" while he was still physically present. As he became more irresponsible and dependent, and until the organic cause of his behavior was belatedly diagnosed, anger vied with the author's pity, frustration and fear. As with Alzheimer's, Doernberg found, there are no insurance programs or public funds to cover custodial or personal-needs care. Illustrations.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

For the last two year of his life, Ray Doernberg suffered from a degenerative brain disease that caused steadily worsening dementia. To preserve her own mental stability, his wife kept this journal, watching, helpless and almost unbelieving, as this man whom she loved lost the capacity to think and to remember and became a helpless stranger. Ray Doernberg was diagnosed as suffering from the rare Binswanger's Disease. But whatever its cause, dementia has become our number one public health problem as the population gets older, and its economic and social impact is enormous. This painfully graphic account will comfort other families caught in the tragedy and will help muster support for research and improved health care. Highly recommended for general collections.George Adelman, formerly with Neurosciences Research Program, MIT
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0912697326
• ISBN 13: 9780912697321
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224