Canton woman fights to end Alzheimer’s

Gail Callahan never pictured herself as the fundraising type, but after meeting with an Alzheimer’s caregiver coach following the diagnosis of her husband, Peter, she figured it might do her some good to give it a try.

“I just decided that I needed to do something,” said Callahan, a native of Dorchester who moved to Canton over 20 years ago. “I certainly surprised myself. It’s a lot of work, but it’s been worth it.”

Peter Callahan

Now a fundraising “champion” in the eyes of the Alzheimer’s Association, Callahan will head to Walpole on Saturday as the top participant in the annual Neponset Valley Walk to End Alzheimer’s, a 3.5-mile charity event featuring a Promise Garden as well as raffles, vendors, educational materials, and refreshments.

Country singer and former American Idol semifinalist Ayla Brown is also scheduled to perform live at the walk, and her parents, U.S. Senator Scott Brown and former WCVB Channel 5 news reporter Gail Huff, will serve as the honorary chairs.

But the real stars of this year’s event will be the walkers like Callahan, who together have raised over $60,000 for Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Callahan and her small army of “Pete’s Pals” currently lead the pack with an estimated 40 participants and nearly $6,000 collected to date.

Impressive as that sounds, however, Callahan knows that it’s just a drop in the bucket for a disease as devastating and as far-reaching as Alzheimer’s — a type of dementia in which the afflicted person’s brain literally shrinks and deteriorates over time, resulting in problems with memory, thinking, and behavior.

Grossly underfunded and barely understood, Alzheimer’s affects an estimated 5.4 million Americans and is currently the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. It is also the only one among the top 10 that cannot be prevented or cured.

And few people know this better than the Callahans, who “tried everything” — from mental exercises to cataract studies to vitamin supplements — only to watch helplessly as Peter’s condition worsened over time.

Perhaps the toughest part was the timing of it all, as Peter was only in his 50s when he began showing signs of the disease. At first he simply shrugged it off, but the symptoms were hard to ignore and he eventually agreed to take part in a one-year study through Mass. General Hospital in an attempt to find out exactly what was plaguing him.

“They tested him for everything — heart attacks, seizures,” Callahan recalled. “The poor guy had monitors on his head that he wore to bed, monitors on his heart, just to rule everything out.”

Callahan said she started to fear for the worst when her husband, a Boston College graduate and a salesman by profession, began getting lost while driving in his own territory. A few months later, those fears were realized when Peter, at age 59, was formally diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

“It’s bad enough when you’re in your 80s, but at that age, to watch someone deteriorate, it’s heartbreaking,” said Callahan. “There’s just no other word to describe it.”

Fortunately for the both of them, Peter was an optimist, and over the next several years he underwent study after study in hopes of finding a cure.

Callahan, meanwhile, jumped feet first into her new role as caregiver, and with the help of friends, family and two hired helpers, she managed to support Peter while also holding down her job at Morgan Stanley in Boston — switching to four-day work weeks so she could have more time with her husband.

Peter remained in his home until the summer of 2009, when he moved into the Hellenic Nursing Home in Canton following one particularly scary incident in which he became disoriented and collapsed. It turned out that the Alzheimer’s had affected his spatial awareness and balance, and he never fully recovered the ability to walk.

Looking back on that difficult period, Callahan is grateful that it was a medical necessity, and not her own conscious choice, that prompted Peter to leave his home of 23 years.

She still misses him like crazy, even though she lives just two miles down the road and visits him at least once a day, including every weekday after work for dinner.

Of course, it helps that Callahan has the utmost faith in the Hellenic staff, which have become like a second family to her over these past three years.

“Half of what gets me through is the staff at the Hellenic,” she said. “They’re just wonderful. I can’t say enough about that facility, and most of all, the people who take care of him.”

She especially likes that they are encouraging, even on the tough days when Peter seems distant or unfocused.

“The nurses swear he knows exactly who I am,” she said. “If I go away they tell me he doesn’t laugh, he doesn’t smile.”

“Some days he says my name, some days he doesn’t,” she added. “But that’s alright. I know who he is. He doesn’t have to know who I am.”

For the most part, it’s still “all about Peter,” according to Callahan, although she admits it can get lonely at times. To cope, she relies on her strong sense of humor and her “wonderful” group of friends, including several “fabulous” people she has met at the 24/7 Family Fitness gym in Stoughton.

“I do have a social life,” she said. “I golf at Ponkapoag with a friend every Sunday morning, and I have such a support system with friends from Canton and Stoughton as well as three sisters in the area.”

Callahan has also found comfort in her fundraising efforts, which have blossomed over the years to include both the Alzheimer’s walk and an annual “Evening to End Alzheimer’s” at the American Legion hall in Canton.

The latter event, which is now in its third year, will be held October 20 from 7 p.m. to midnight and will feature raffles, a silent auction, a DJ, and a host of door prizes.

Callahan said many local businesses donate to the event each year, including Center Pizza and Kramer Jewelers, and she has also received a number of valuable auction items from Boston area sports teams, including tickets and autographed memorabilia.

Callahan said it all adds up to a fun night for a worthy cause, with all proceeds going to the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

“I don’t know how much of a difference I make, because I’m a little mom and pop thing,” she said, “but I do it so somebody my age doesn’t have to go through this.”

For more information about the upcoming Walk to End Alzheimer’s or to donate to Callahan’s team, go to www.alzwalkMANH.org and search for “Pete’s Pals.”

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=16204

Posted by Jay Turner on Sep 20 2012. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.