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Different Minds

When Leo Ferrari—Professor Emeritus of New Brunswick’s St. Thomas University—was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, he desperately wanted to help others in their struggle with the disease. His efforts resulted in Different Minds, a small paperback easily read in a single sitting.

Leo clearly, yet humorously, expresses what Alzheimer’s disease feels like from the inside. However, if you were to only read Leo’s pages, you would not understand just how much the disease is affecting him. In the early days, Leo pondered “Why me?” He also considered his brain injury as a 10-year-old and later exposure to toxic chemicals as a researcher as potential causes for his diagnosis. Now, he believes that when “life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

Lorna—Leo’s wife, caregiver, and co-author—writes openly and honestly of her emotional journey in dealing with Leo and the disease. She is brutally honest about her shortcomings as well as Leo’s. Lorna, a former registered nurse, confesses she is a “resultant caregiver”. Many caregivers can relate when Lorna writes, “we’ve spent hours looking for his credit card, and still do sometimes, because I’m not always on top of it. And when he misplaces things I get angry. I just can’t help it. I get angry because I’m afraid.”

Different Minds is a series of short chapters sprinkled with sections of the diary that Lorna has kept through Leo’s battle with the disease. There is no writer’s reflective hindsight—only the reality of a single day. Some entries are poignant, some frustrating, some hopeful, and even humorous. Some are accepting and loving;

Leo awakes this morning full of ideas for a new project. I used to dread the onset of a project. There was never time for us. Now I’m happy for him. “What is it?” “I’m going,” he announces triumphantly, “to write my memoirs.” “Well,” I say, “that shouldn’t take long.” And we both laugh.

According to Lorna, the greatest lesson for new caregivers and those who have Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias is, “Living with Alzheimer’s is much less stressful when the diagnosis is out in the open.” Because Leo has been open about his diagnosis, Fredericton cab drivers look out for him. Perfect strangers ask Lorna how Leo is doing.

Reviewed by Kerry McPhedran, writer, caregiver for her mother, and volunteer with the Alzheimer Society of B.C.