Hello, my name is Tom.

I was diagnosed with EOAD in 2008. Along with Steve I will serve as one of your facilitators. I have worked with the national Alzheimer's Message Board as a Peer Volunteer and hope to bring some experience to the table for us. I need your support and hope to be able to support you at the same time!

I’m not a professional in this area. I’m a person with AD. Being diagnosed with Alzheimer's prior to the age of 65 is known as Early On-Set Alzheimer's disease (EOAD). I prefer to give it the acronym EROADe as the disease wants to erase a little bit more every day. It is my pleasure to "be there" for you, please do the same for me!

My EOAD was triggered by a TBI I received in 1982. This statement is the conclusion of several blood tests, spinal taps, MRI's, CT scans, EEG's, Neuro Phyc test, PET scan and 2nd opinion at Johns Hopkins after all that. When the doctors at Johns Hopkins reviewed all the data they asked me to congratulate my medical team in Harrisburg for their excellent diagnosis.

My medical team consists of:

Dr. Patrick Ratnasamy of Internist of PA

Judith Strickler, MS ,NCC of Strickler and Whitcomb Mental Health Associates

Dr. Jagdish Shah of Shah Neurology

Dr. Denis J. Milke, MD, DLFAPA 

The end result is that I have trouble with my short term memory, concentrating, and have hearing and visual deficits. Each one of those issues has side issues that make life interesting! To make lite of it all, there are no re-runs on TV for me! It is nice to meet new people every day! Plus, I can hide my own Easter Eggs now!

I was asked by the state of Pennsylvania to willingly send in my drivers license after they had been informed by one of my doctors that I had Cognitive Impairment. My choices were to A) send it in within 30 days and receive a state ID for free   or   2) wait fro them to revoke my privileges and pay $18 for the ID. They got my liesense within 7 days! On a side note, I would like to Thank the doctor you ratted me out as I know that was a tough decision but one that had to be made! I was having difficulty seeing things that were actually in front of me and hallucinating as well.

We are all very lucky to have Steve as a co-facilitator. He has a strong feeling of compassion for all humanity including Alzheimer's patients. I met Steve while investigating a durable Power of Attorney to protect my assets because of my illness. There was a meeting with my wife, Steve and my wife. My wife and I trust him.

We were all new once and we all have good and bad days. Keeping a positive attitude and taking control of our lives is the only way to keep Alzheimer's from controlling us.

I will attach a link to a site that will lead you to your local Alzheimer’s Association Chapter. Those people will be able to assist you with local resources and thoughts to improve your life:

 http://www.alz.org/apps/findus.asp

Tom and wife Gerry at Martinsville Speedway

This is a YouTube link for some interesting entertainment