Back to School – September ‘11

Met all of Riley’s and Ryan’s teachers at their respective Back-To-School nights.  This is not an opportunity to talk to the teachers as this is a regimented one way communication forum.  I did get to put a face to the names though, and I sent an email to all of their teachers.  Looked like this:

My name is Mike Stanford and my daughter Riley is in your xxxx class.  I enjoyed hearing about your class Wednesday evening.  I wanted you to be aware of a personal situation Riley is going through, and only ask that you let me know if you have concerns with Riley at any time during the year. 

My wife (Marcia), and Riley's mother has early onset Alzheimer's.  Last year was difficult for us, and we kept most of this from Riley while we went through a lengthy process of trying to determine what was causing speech problems.  We weren't given a diagnosis until April, and told Riley at that time.  Her teachers didn't see anything unusual or notice any changes throughout the balance of the year, and her grades were very good.

Riley knows a lot about Alzheimer's disease.  She also doesn't talk to us about it much, but clearly sees changes in Marcia. 

While I would prefer you not ask Riley about this, if you see things you think I should know about, please email me, or call me.

Thank you and I hope you have a wonderful school year.

Regards

All of Riley’s and all of Ryan’s teachers responded.  Ryan’s teacher’s discussed with each other and other 6^th grade teachers.  I got emails from guidance counselors, school nurses and others that left me feeling they will be watching and keeping a close eye on Ryan for anything that might be a concern.  A couple of responses started with, “my mother had Alzheimer’s”, or “my grandfather had Alzheimer’s”…  What’s becoming an amazing, yet sad pattern is the number of people I speak with who tell me they have, or had a relative that had AD.  While more than 5 million people are living with AD, more than 20 million are impacted.  This is a big issue, only to get bigger.  Something has to be done.  The US Government already spends more than a billion dollars a year on Alzheimer’s care.  It’s only going to get worse as the population ages. 

I have never been great at asking for money, I’m seeing a clearer role for me in the fundraising area.  Someday….