Reflecting on more than 30 years of loving marriage with his wife Nancy, Patrick Glithero describes her as both “my person” and “an anchor for everyone who met her.” She held a degree in special education and worked with people with disabilities.
In 2016, Nancy started having difficulties driving. Soon, she was forgetting the rules of Euchre, a card game she’d been playing since her youth. A neurologist recognized her ‘minor cognitive impairment,’ but her eventual diagnosis of Lewy body dementia was still years away.
As Nancy’s symptoms worsened, she experienced a fall that required reconstructive shoulder surgery. Hallucinations were next. Then, a chance meeting with a nurse led the couple to a specialist at Massachusetts General who diagnosed Nancy with Lewy body dementia.
Patrick recalls that Nancy accepted her diagnosis as “better than the unknown,” while he committed to becoming her care partner immediately. “I don’t remember ever thinking about another choice other than doing whatever I needed to do,” says Patrick.
Despite Nancy’s acceptance and Patrick’s commitment, he says they “faced a wilderness of fear. … I feared that I could not do it all, that I might die first. I feared trying to explain to family and friends what the Lewy journey meant.”
Fortunately, the couple found LBDA online, and with the encouragement of the staff at Massachusetts General, soon connected with the organization. LBDA Support Services helped the couple navigate the uncertainties of the disease and helped Patrick face the many challenges of being a care partner.
After 33 years together, Patrick lost Nancy to LBD. Since then, his involvement with LBDA and his gratitude for the organization has only grown. Today, he continues to give back as an LBDA support group leader, a Lewy Buddy, and a participant in LBD studies.
“LBDA, its staff, and those it serves, to Nancy and I was an island when we were adrift,” says Patrick. “We could not have coped without LBDA and the community that LBDA has developed around the world.”
