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JEFFREY BROWN:And now the first in an occasional series of stories about long-term care.
With baby boomers aging and living longer, more people will need it. But new research has shown most Americans have done little or nothing to plan for these situations that can carry a heavy emotional and economic toll.
We're calling our series “Taking Care.”
Ray Suarez kicks it off with the story of one family's struggle with a debilitating disease.
REBECCA WYANT, Caregiver: This is my mother, Mary Elizabeth Wyant. She is 74 years old and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of 65. She is a retired professional artist and a former professor at the University of Arizona.
My name is Rebecca Wyant. And I'm her youngest daughter and her primary caregiver and guardian.
RAY SUAREZ:It's been nine years since Mary Wyant was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's. In 2006, she moved in with her daughter, making Rebecca part of a growing population of Americans, now nearly one in five adults, who provide unpaid care for family members over the age of 50.
Rebecca says her mother used to be a fun-loving and vibrant artist who was always at the center of attention.
REBECCA WYANT:Very creative, very outgoing, very gregarious, very much a social butterfly, just really liked to be around people. And she could take nothing and create something magnificent from that, so very smart. But more, I think, anything, it was just her energy and her social skills and her ability to engage with people, with anybody.
RAY SUAREZ:Today, that Mary still comes out from time to time, but often it's seen only in short spurts and can be followed by rapid mood swings, incoherent outbursts and blank stares.
Mary exhibits all the symptoms of what the Alzheimer's Association has called the defining disease of baby boomers, with 10 million in that age group expected to develop this form of dementia in the coming years.
Jeanette Wendt is Mary's neurologist.
DR. JEANETTE WENDT, Neurologist: She has very severe language difficulties and has very severe memory problems and really has the inability to take care of herself in almost all aspects.
RAY SUAREZ:Moving to Tucson was a homecoming of sorts for Mary, who had raised her daughters there, but had been living in Central America with her second husband. When the marriage fell apart, Rebecca became Mary's legal guardian and her primary caregiver.
Rebecca, who is 48 years old and unmarried, is now on call from the moment Mary wakes up every morning, getting her mother out of bed and dressed, and then helping to brush her teeth, combing her hair and figuring out new strategies for medication.
REBECCA WYANT:You're going to choke on them. Here.
RAY SUAREZ:It can be stressful and difficult.
REBECCA WYANT:It's a 115-pound 2-year-old who is not potty-trained.
RAY SUAREZ:Even awkward at times in public.
REBECCA WYANT:People still when they talk to her speak in a very loud voice, because they think people with Alzheimer's can't hear. Or they speak very slowly. And I try and explain to them she's not understanding what you are saying, so you don't have to worry about that. I mean, just speak in your normal voice and just go with the flow.
But it's very uncomfortable for a lot of people, because they don't understand the disease. And the problem is, for every single person with Alzheimer's, it's totally different.
RAY SUAREZ:But Rebecca says people need to understand that her family's situation, all of it, is normal, and not without its special moments.
REBECCA WYANT:Every now and then, she will -- I don't know what sparks in her mind, but she will just say -- she will say, "Oh," and she will turn and she will look at me and she has something to say to me. You can just see it in her face, and then it's gone. But, for that moment, you just know, I know she's still in there. So when she manages to let a little bit of that out, it's wonderful.
RAY SUAREZ:Rebecca owns a self-serve dog wash and retail business, and brings Mary to work, where she will stay until the shop closes in the evening. It's round-the-clock care that Rebecca says she was willing to take on for one simple reason.
