How a Couple Found Joy in The Face of Alzheimer's

When her husband, Ady, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Helene Berger vowed to seek joy in the face of the disease. During the last 2 years of his life, he achieved what is considered impossible: played Mozart on the piano, solved Sudoku puzzles and wrote love letters.

Fighting Alzheimer's Together


5.8 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s based on data from The Alzheimer's Association. The disease not only affects the person diagnosed but their loved ones. This couple managed to do the unthinkable. When her husband Ady, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Helene Berger refused to surrender. With constant mental stimulation and support, Ady experienced an unprecedented regeneration. Helene documented her husband’s last six years, as she developed creative caregiving methods, while working to improve her own attitude.


Along this uncalculated expedition, Helene took notes for herself which became the basis of her book: Choosing Joy Alzheimer’s: A Book of Hope. Helene aims to provide tools to respond to mental or physical decline in a positive way, while sharing Ady's unique story. According to Helene Berger, it's not what happens to us that matters, but how we choose to react to it. “This book,” she writes, “is largely about how to change what we can and accept what we cannot.”


Helene Berger has taken on major positions of leadership on this particular topic throughout her life and is known as an influential and rousing speaker. Her first book was inspired by the unanticipated positive results that her husband achieved after an official diagnosis of Alzheimer's. It offers tangible methodology of what she learned through trial and error during the next six years. It is a uncommon book of hope.


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