Thank you for your article “Alzheimer’s: Unlocking the Mystery” (SOCIETY, Jan. 31). I had a rough time reading the article, having watched both of my paternal grandparents slowly deteriorate and eventually die from the disease over the last decade. Your article was informative and helpful. When you better understand the disease, it helps to let go of loved ones who die mentally long before they ever leave you physically. And now, despite the fact that I know my parents and I are more susceptible to the disease, you have given me hope. Hope for a cure and hope about prevention. Thank you for reporting on what exactly the disease is, how it occurs and the fact that there are many people out there searching for a cure.

Mindi Jones

West Valley City, Utah

Your report on Alzheimer’s was right on the mark in pointing out the heartbreak the disease causes for patients and family members, and the importance of keeping patients as involved as possible in activities, while offering compassion up until the bitter end. It is almost eight years since my father, a physician who made his own diagnosis, died of Alzheimer’s. Although moments of recognizing his family became less frequent as his illness progressed, I cherish that twinkle in his blue eyes when he saw his granddaughters or when he corrected a relative about the setting of an old family photograph. More than 10 years ago, a writing partner and I proposed a book to explain the human side of the tragedy. A literary agent told us not enough people would be interested in a subject to which they couldn’t relate, and which did not have a happy ending. Your statistics and the personal tragedies of famous people like President Ronald Reagan now seem to indicate otherwise.

Barbara B. Buchholz

St. Louis, Mo.

Along with three of my seven brothers and sisters, I have been an Alzheimer’s caregiver for two years. My beautiful mother, who devoted her life to raising her eight children and caring for my father through three bouts of lung cancer before his death, is suffering from Alzheimer’s. I do not use the word “suffering” lightly. My mother, who always saw the silver lining in every cloud, now sees only the clouds. She sees them, but can seldom name them. She often cannot name her children or grandchildren. She doesn’t know her address, the day of the week, the month or year or season. This woman who was always ready to take on the world with joy, wonder and excitement seldom leaves her home. A trip to the grocery store where she has shopped for 19 years is a very foreign and stressful adventure. Each time we go, it is as if we have never been there before. Now I understand why Alzheimer’s is called a “family disease.” The toll it takes on all involved is physical, financial and devastatingly emotional.

Kathleen M. Cotta

Alpharetta, Ga.

The first paragraph of Geoffrey Cowley’s article on Alzheimer’s disease reads like the story of my mother’s long and valiant struggle. Her death was indeed just a formality. I still have a copy of one of your earlier cover stories on the subject, “The Agony of Alzheimer’s Disease” (Dec. 3, 1984). Our family used that as a way of tracing what we could expect with my mother. Please continue to use the printed word to raise awareness of this heartbreaking disease, with the hope that more research dollars will be committed to it. Thank you for all you have done.

Linda Mendelson

Chicago, Ill.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the comprehensive information in your cover story on Alzheimer’s. The stored experience and knowledge and humanity in aging citizens’ brains constitute a precious treasure to all mankind. It is entirely worth the all-out effort toward a cure.

Malcolm N. Eilerman

Covington, Ga.

As an audiologist and speech-language pathologist, I’d like to point out that the cognitive dysfunction and inattentiveness that characterize Alzheimer’s also plague the elderly hearing-impaired. Without a complete audiological evaluation, it may be hard to determine to what extent a patient’s symptoms are the result of Alzheimer’s or hearing loss. Unfortunately, many doctors don’t order a hearing test for their patients. A significant hearing loss may exacerbate the advance of Alzheimer’s, since cognitive stimulation, through vision and hearing, is the key to environmental awareness. If a family member exhibits the signs of Alzheimer’s, insist on a complete audiological evaluation. If the results indicate that a hearing aid is needed, get one immediately.

Granville Y. Brady Jr.

Somerville, N.J.

Kudos to your magazine for its extremely timely article on Alzheimer’s disease. As an EOAD (early-onset Alzheimer’s disease) patient (I was diagnosed at 45), I find it most heartening that this monstrous disease is finally being discussed openly. There is a good deal of knowledge about the later stages of Alzheimer’s and related dementia, but its beginnings seem to be new territory. Until recently, most patients were diagnosed well into the progression of the disease, with a predictable course. But now, with earlier diagnosis, we EOAD patients are rocking the boat. Some drugs may forestall the disease’s progression for years, not just months. We are challenging our local Alzheimer’s Associations to provide support groups and counseling for us as patients. Alzheimer’s is a death sentence, with no reprieves in sight at this time… sigh… but we are not dead yet! I hope that perhaps you will consider doing a follow-up article on early-stage Alzheimer’s. Many of us fall through the cracks of society because we are not senior citizens, even though we have “old-timer’s disease,” and many spouses are left still caring for a young family and a spouse who is becoming a child again.

Jan Phillips

La Mirada, Calif.

Thank you for your article “My Father’s Battle With Alzheimer’s” by Maureen Reagan. Ever since the former president told the American people about his illness, I have been interested in how he’s been doing. Maureen gave us a loving insight into his illness and the care he is receiving. I hope her plea for support for the Alzheimer’s Association will not go unheard and that soon there will be a cure for this terrible disease.

Hope Warriner

San Diego, Calif.

In an age with so much emphasis placed on parenting and working women, one would think that Bruce Kluger would be a welcome commodity for any parenting magazine (“Breaking Through the Estrogen Ceiling,” MY TURN, Jan. 31). As a woman, I was shocked and chagrined by the account of his inability to break into an area of writing where a male perspective is sorely needed. Here is what American women pleaded for, fought for and demanded all these years: a man who understands the male perspective on nurturing children. A slap on the hand from me to all those parenting magazines that rejected him. Young men in this country suffer from a lack of role models, especially when it comes to adequate parenting. If women have no desire to reinforce the efforts of our men to adopt these new roles, they can eventually just forget about it and go back to doing all the parenting themselves!

Marianne Duncan

Silver Spring, MD.

There’s no doubt that Kluger and other conscientious fathers are occasionally undervalued. I’d like to say, however, that as long as it is women, and not men, who suffer through the ordeals of pregnancy and childbirth, and as long as breast milk is considered superior to formula, fathers will indeed be parental also-rans. We love you, dads; we’re glad when you’re around, but most moms do more. It’s biology. Get over it.

Jennifer Graham

Charleston, S.C.

As a stay-at-home dad, taking a year off from teaching to spend time with my two daughters, I count myself extremely fortunate that my wife’s job as an anesthesiologist makes this financially possible. While Kluger has clocked countless hours feeding, diapering, cleaning, playing, reading and grocery shopping, I gather he still seeks his identity through his vocation. I am guilty of the same folly. Something inherent in the Y chromosome makes it exceedingly difficult for me to fill in “homemaker” or “full-time dad” in the “occupation” blank on a form. I tell people I’m “on a sabbatical from teaching,” as if just being Daddy is not a noble pursuit. It is in fact the most honorable of pursuits, but also one with very little external validation–no grades, no salary, no “performance reviews.” You have to relish the little things, the moments of triumph that occur every day for your children. Since I’ve taken that approach, this “24/7 dad” role has been magnificently fulfilling. I still carry the secret hope that my daughters will receive some enormous benefit from my year at home. Yet I know their best experiences have occurred when both Mom and Dad have been with them. So is it OK to call me Mr. Mom? Sure, if you call my wife Dr. Dad.

Scott A. Sustek

Austin, Texas

It saddens and disheartens me to see that psychiatrists don’t seem to be involved in deciding what is best for Elian Gonzalez (“Grandma Diplomacy,” INTERNATIONAL, Jan. 31). With all that is known about childhood loss, trauma and recovery, it is criminal to treat this boy as a political pawn and cause celebre. Elian, at the tender age of 5, watched his mother die, saw the deaths of 10 others, survived at sea–terrified for his life–and is treated as if he had marched in a parade. He needs to mourn in an environment of safety and familiar continuity. Give him the one parent he still has and grandparents who can help him make sense of what losses he’s sustained.

Deena R. Harris, M.D.

New York, N.Y.

This family matter is getting too political. Doesn’t anyone want to know whether Elian wants to stay in the United States or return to Cuba? Although he is only 6 years old now, he is the victim of this conflict and therefore has the right to give his point of view and let his voice be heard.

Eva Ho

Cupertino, Calif.

Please withhold judgment on Elian’s mother and the thousands of Cubans who risk their lives in their efforts to escape until you’ve walked in their shoes. Or to put it better, until you’ve taken a paddle stroke in one of their rafts. My mother took me out of Cuba when I was 10 years old, and in the process she left behind her own mother. That was 32 years ago. I can assure you that the 50 stars on the American flag and our nation’s Constitution mean a lot more to anyone who has sailed to freedom than they do to someone who has been born in it.

Rigoberto Lacaba

Pembroke Pines, Fla.

Anna Quindlen’s piece “Ignore Them Off The Field” (THE LAST WORD, Jan. 31) reminded me of the plight of the great baseball hitter Hank Greenberg, who was reviled by other ballplayers because he was Jewish. He ignored them on the field, speaking only with his bat by hitting 58 homers, rivaling Babe Ruth’s record of 60. He maintained his dignity and enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II, at the height of his baseball fame. He also mentored the young Jackie Robinson, who suffered similar abuse for being an African-American. Unlike John Rocker, Greenberg was a player who had more than a talented rotator cuff and superb hand-eye coordination; he was a mensch.

Marvin K. Rubin

New York, N.Y.

God bless John Rocker, who can spit out the realities of life with candor, as opposed to politically correct columnists like Anna Quindlen.

Ray Gerhardt

Las Vegas, Nev.

Anna Quindlen’s essay on the relative unimportance of professional athletes is a long-overdue observation on American culture. Because today’s pro athletes have been raised to the level of cultural icons, we have created a breed of egotistical louts, many of whom feel licensed to indulge in all manner of criminal behavior with no need to worry about legal consequences. High-priced lawyers get them into “counseling programs” in lieu of jail time. For every gentlemanly Wayne Gretzky or Nolan Ryan, we have a platoon of John Rockers and Mike Tysons. For that reason, my favorite athlete of all time is Secretariat. At least he always knew how to behave in public.

Jerry Redmond

Huntington, N.Y.