STILL ALICE
John Black, 42 West Street, Brighton
John Black, 42 West Street, Brighton
John Black, 42 West Street, Brighton
I must’ve repeated that to myself hundreds of times while reading Still Alice by Lisa Genova.
Every time Alice was asked to recite it, I had to test myself as well.
John Black, 42 West Street, Brighton
Good books make you feel. Great books make you feel for the characters.
Life-changing books make you feel as though you could be the character.
That fact is what earns this book my 5-star rating.
It is also the fact that scares the hell out of me when I read it.
John Black, 42 West Street, Brighton
Although it is technically fiction, the humanity, empathy, and authenticity with which it is written makes Still Alice go beyond believable, it makes it livable.
The author, Lisa Genova, has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard, she watched her grandmother decline and die with Alzheimer’s disease, and she went well-past being thorough in her research of what it is and how it feels to live with, care for, and be touched by ALZ.
Every one of those qualifications show on every page.
John Black, 42 West Street, Brighton
I had the opportunity and the honor to meet and visit with Lisa Genova in November 2018, when she spoke at our Alzheimer’s Association AWARE (Alliance of Women for Alzheimer’s Research and Education) Luncheon in Tulsa.
It goes without saying that she is brilliant.
She is also genuine, easy to connect to, personable, and very down to earth.
My favorite take-away from that event is the inscription she wrote in my book:
“You are more than what you can remember – xo, Lisa Genova”
The very next day, I attended her presentation at Tulsa Town Hall.
She was still brilliant.
In this much larger, auditorium-style setting, I found her to be humorous, engaging, and wonderfully thought-provoking. During her speech, I wrote inside my book:
- Empathy – is fueled by story
- Diet, Exercise, Sleep, and Lifelong Learning – our means of prevention
- Conversation – builds community
She just validated my life…I connect through sharing and telling my story, I strive to be strong through my food choices, yoga, rest, and exploring new things, and I could not function without Coach, my kids, family, and friends.
She also said, “Story is our opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes,” and I love that!
Next, I read through the transcript from Lisa’s interview with Us Against Alzheimer’s. (Like how I’ve put us on a first-name basis?)
She was brilliant.
My first must-save-take-away occurs in her very first response:
“…what does it feel like to live with this? That question is the key to empathy.”
Friends, that’s not just in trying to understand Alzheimer’s; that’s in trying to be a good human in life.
She was also very insightful and instructive on creating connections and being a good conversationalist.
Again, these tips and tools are intended to address challenges that come with Alzheimer’s disease, but her wisdom reaches far beyond that special case.
She shared her “yes, and” method of communicating at Tulsa Town Hall; reading through it again in this interview transcript was a great refresher.
The full transcript is 15 pages long, but it’s a quick read and contains very valuable information. I highly recommend taking the time to go through it!
In the interview, Lisa mentions that she had recently given her TED Talk on what you can do to prevent Alzheimer’s (April 2017).
I’ve had this saved on an open tab on both my cell phone and my desktop for months, knowing that Lisa is brilliant and the TED Talk will be phenomenal.
Today, I finally sat down to watch it. And I was right…
Lisa is brilliant.
The TED Talk is phenomenal.
Even though I have received extensive training to give similar speeches on the basics of the disease and how to understand Alzheimer’s, I still took multiple pages of notes during the 14-minute video.
I encourage you to pay especially close attention to the following:
- The cure to Alzheimer’s disease will likely be a preventative medicine because findings to date have focused research projects on discovering a way to prevent, eliminate, or reduce amyloid plaque accumulation.
- Lisa’s match to forest fire analogy is very important and spot-on
- Although two risk factors for having ALZ are out of our control (amyloid plaques that come with age and genes which are part of our DNA), we can control many other factors such as sleep, cardiovascular health, aerobic exercise, diet, and functional synapses
- Years of formal education, a high degree of literacy, and engaging in mentally stimulating activities create “an abundance and a redundancy in neural connections” allowing us to possibly be “resilient to the presence of Alzheimer’s pathology” and live normally even when the disease is present in the brain. (The Nun Study)
Again, she closed with this truth, so I will do the same:
“You are more than what you can remember.”
With love and hugs,
Ashli
PS: The link to this short video lives on my home page at MeAndCoach.com, but I wanted to share it here as well. It is a clear, concise illustration of ALZ and how it affects the brain:
