Sandra Day O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court to take care of her husband.JOSE LUIS MAGANA / AP
Nation & World
THE SEATTLE TIMES
May 15, 2008
By Lauran Neergaard
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The first woman on the Supreme Court has become the nation's most prominent Alzheimer's caregiver.
Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor spoke about her family's battle with the illness Wednesday as she urged Congress to speed research in hopes of slowing a coming epidemic.
"Our nation is certainly ready to get deadly serious about this deadly disease," she told the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
She has a personal stake: "My beloved husband, John, suffers from Alzheimer's," she said, her voice wobbling briefly. "He's not in very good shape at present."
It was the first time O'Connor has talked publicly about her husband since her sons revealed last year that he'd fallen in love with another resident of the nursing home where he was then living.
The O'Connor family discussed the situation to help educate people about Alzheimer's. John O'Connor was moved to another facility as his condition deteriorated.
Her story resonated with senator after senator who told of mothers and fathers crippled and then killed by Alzheimer's — and with a crowd of about 300 onlookers, many wearing purple Alzheimer's Association sashes, who applauded the calls for aid in a Senate hearing room.
More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease. The number is poised to skyrocket, with 16 million people forecast to have it by 2050 due to the aging population. It afflicts one in eight people 65 or older, and nearly one in two people older than 85.
"I'm getting pretty close to 80, so that gets my attention," O'Connor said wryly. "I think a lot of people will be concerned."
O'Connor told how, when her husband no longer could stay home alone, she would take him to work at the high court. She announced her retirement in 2005 by saying she needed time to care for him, and eventually moved him to an assisted-care center in Phoenix, near two of their three children. She retired in 2006.
Her main message Wednesday, however, was a call to action. She urged better support for caregivers and repeatedly stressed the need to speed high-quality research, citing the possibility of such treatment approaches as attacking a brain-clogging gunk called beta-amyloid that is the disease's hallmark.
O'Connor has joined a group of national leaders, including well-known scientists and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, to create what they call a "national strategy" to battle Alzheimer's, emphasizing research and improving help for caregivers.
Material from the Chicago Tribune is included in this report.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
