Alice

1949-2010

One morning, in April of this year, my friend Alice Lohr woke up colour blind. She saw lots of doctors and endured many tests. They could find nothing wrong with her eyesight, even though she continued to have other sight-related issues, including difficulties with her peripheral vision and depth perception. Nothing showed up on any tests.

By mid-June she was having tremours, which the doctors thought were related to the prednisone she was taking for an unrelated condition. Things got worse and her mental acuity began to decline rapidly. By the end of the month, she could no longer walk, dress herself, feed herself, speak in sentences or see at all.

On July 7, she was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. On July 9, she had a feeding tube placed. She was transferred to hospice on July 12. She was attended daily by her husband and many friends the first couple days, until it was decided best to limit visitors due to her deteriorating status. The rate at which she declined was shocking.

Alice passed away peacefully on Sunday afternoon, July 18, with her husband, Barry, at her side.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is a horrible, nasty thing. There is so very little known about it as of yet. We need to learn more. So far, all we know is that it is untreatable, incurable, and always fatal.

Alice was good people. She has left a huge void in my world and my heart hurts.