Stolen Memories: One Family's Experience with Alzheimer's Disease [Paperback]

Marie Cloud (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 8, 2001

STOLEN MEMORIES deals with the impact of being a caregiver for a parent and how it not only affects ones job and family, but also ones mental and physical health. This story deals with the guilt that caregivers often carry as the gradually have to invade their parents privacy in order to keep them safe everything from having to take a drivers license away, to having to put a parent into an Alzheimers care facility. Marie encounters feelings of helplessness as she has to go against her mothers wishes in order to care for her. Later her struggles through her own dark depression as the hopeless prognosis of Alzheimers disease takes its toll on her entire family, understands her agonizing sense that no matter what she did, it wasnt enough.STOLEN MEMORIES deals with real issues that confront many of us. It is important that those who have been through caring for a parent with Alzheimers disease share their stories, as these experiences may help someone recognize and deal with this disease in its early stages.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

I wrote STOLEN MEMORIES - ONE FAMILY’S EXPERIENCE WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE after my mother died from complications from Alzheimer’s disease in 1996.

Although I was fortunate to have the wholehearted support of my husband, our busy life, our growing children, and the deteriorating condition of my mother (who lived with us) was overwhelming at times. I wrote STOLEN MEMORIES to give support, comfort, and hard-earned knowledge to other imperfect people who find themselves in the position of caregiver.

Changing roles with a parent can be difficult, confusing and devastating. They often overlook caregivers, but the impact upon them is greater than most realize. The guilt I felt after placing my mother into a nursing home, caused me to suffer a nervous breakdown.

I want my experiences to be a warning to others. Much of what I went through could have been avoided, if I had known the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, if I had not tried to be Superwoman, and if I had been aware of how our childhood affect us when we become adults in crisis.

I am opening up my life, however painfully, in hopes that my experiences will avert a similar disaster in the lives of others dealing with Alzheimer’s disease.

Contact the Author
Marie Cloud
P.O. Box 18488
Kearns, Utah 84118
E-mail [e-mail]

About the Author

Marie Cloud worked in Corporate America for seventeen years. After caring for her mother who developed Alzheimer's she wrote and published several essays and management articles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (January 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595158498
• ISBN-13: 978-0595158492
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,275,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Health, Mind & Body > Disorders & Diseases > Nervous System

More About the Author

Diane Compagno (AKA Marie Cloud), is the author of the mystery, thriller, "Mind Games" and a science-fiction, thriller, "Deadly Rains". Under the pen name of Marie Cloud she wrote the book "Stolen Memories", about her families experience with Alzheimer's Disease.

After going through a very sad and intense personal experience with a mother who developed Alzheimer's Disease, Diane decided to write down her experiences in order to help other caregivers or family members who have to live with this disorder.

Once retired from a job where she worked for many years in the computer field, she began to get restless. She enjoying shows such as X-Files and Nova, her interest in technologies of the future opened up a love of writing about these types of subjects. Thus her book "Deadly Rains" evolved. Later she found herself once again coming up with a new story line which evoved into "Mind Games" her latest book.

Living in AZ with her husband now, Diane enjoys writing as a hobby and loves coming up new story ideas. She hopes that many others will enjoy them as well. Perhaps this will even encourage other budding writers out there to come up with their new and wonderful ideas. Her husband, three children, and three grandchildren are the loves of her life.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Journey Past Forgetting, April 9, 2001

By 

D.H. St. Martin (Claremont, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stolen Memories: One Family's Experience with Alzheimer's Disease (Paperback)

In January 1993, Marie Cloud's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, but that diagnosis came only after several years of slow recognition of a mounting problem. Cloud's account of her family's journey with her mother down the dark, frightening and ever degenerating path of this illness may seem halting at times, but she never fails to reveal the brutal truths of her own responses to the loss of her mother bit by painful bit. The poignancy of Marie Cloud's story, the importance of it not only to the children and other relatives of Alzheimer's patients but to all baby boomers who are now facing health crises in their parents as well, make this a book well worth reading. Its portrayal of a woman with grown children of her own struggling with her feelings of inadequacy in the face of this impossible and terrifying illness is uncompromising. In one of the most moving moments in the book, Cloud, battling the guilt of having placed her mother in a nursing home against her mother's earlier wishes, suffers a nervous breakdown and begins psychotherapy. One wonders if Stolen Memories would have been possible had she not fallen completely apart and required help. I highly recommend this book to all who feel alone in the dark cavern of living with and still trying to love aging and deteriorating parents.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An honest, touching account of one daughter's experience, March 23, 2001

By 

Kate "doso81844" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stolen Memories: One Family's Experience with Alzheimer's Disease (Paperback)

For anyone who has lived with a family member who has Alzheimer's or another type of dementia, this book will be both a mirror and a comfort. Written in plainspoken, painfully honest language, Stolen Memories chronicles a daughter's experiences and feelings as she slowly loses a beloved mother to the ravages of Alzheimer's. The effects on herself and her family, the myriad ways with which she tried to cope with both her mother's disease and her own despair and guilt are touchingly told, without an ounce of self-pity. Ultimately this becomes a story not just of pain but of hope--- hope that in the future other families may be spared this experience through new research aimed at combatting this disease but also hope in the present that those who have to companion someone through 'stolen memories' can survive it themselves and become stronger and more whole individuals through that survival. As someone who grew up with a live-in grandmother who suffered dementia, the experiences in this book rang deeply true to me and helped me understand both my own and my mother's experiences better. I recommend Stolen Memories to anyone seeking the solace of knowing they are not alone in the toll that dementia can take on a family and the inspiration of witnessing Marie Cloud's capacity to overcome her own devastation.