DAD'S DEATH SEEMED to trigger the disease in Mom. Shortly after his passing, we began to see the signs. During a vacation to Vermont with my sister Cheri and her family, Mom brought only $20 for a five-week trip. She lost her wallet and was convinced it had been stolen.

Losing things -- her wallet, eyeglasses, keys -- became commonplace. Everything you said had to be repeated.

We'd tell her, "Mom, you're getting hard of hearing."

She'd get mad and say, "No, I'm not. You need to speak louder. You're mumbling."

My sister Jill moved from Ohio to live with her. Mom soon began coming into Jill's room before 6 every morning, sitting on her bed and waking her up with small talk. Mom called her at work -- sometimes 12 times a day. Left alone, she wandered the neighborhood. She began to talk loudly at inappropriate times -- in church, during a concert.

Jill enrolled Mom in a study at a local Alzheimer's research facility. The diagnosis confirmed our worst fears -- she had the same disease that had claimed Dad.