Posted on 11/14/2007 10:52:46 AM PST by dead
The retired Supreme Court justice's spouse, John O'Connor, has had Alzheimer's disease for 17 years, and after moving into an assisted-living center in Phoenix, he began a romance with a fellow patient also suffering from the mind-debilitating ailment.
But the justice isn't jealous - the O'Connor family believes the love has given John, 77, a new lease on life.
"Mom was thrilled that dad was relaxed and happy and comfortable living here and wasn't complaining," their son Scott O'Connor, 50, told Phoenix's KPNX-TV.
Scott said that when his father recently arrived at the Huger Mercy Living Center, he was depressed.
"He knew this was sort of the beginning of the end," said Scott O'Connor. "It was basically suicide talk."
Then John O'Connor was moved to another part of the center, where he met a lady simply known as Kay.
They are often together and hold hands, Scott told KPNX.
"Forty-eight hours after moving into that new cottage, he was a teenager in love. He was happy."
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(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
No one can know how much the man was in control of his faculties.
As much as I dislike Sandy, I think it’s a mature and rational reaction on her part.
Likely that he’s been a completely different person to her and toward her for a while now, which is why he’s in the retirement home.
Does Kay’s family know that their mother is being abused by this facility? She is not of sound mind. If there is sexual contact, it’s Rape.
This really is a very sweet story. Good for Justice O’Conner for sharing it.
This disease is truly devastating to all affected by it.
Too much information, thank you.
Very HEALTHY reaction Sandra!
Sandra Day O’Connor.
Ronald Reagan didn’t make many mistakes, but he sure did make one colossal mistake with her.
Sandy is dealing with this in a very dignified manner.
What an unenviable situation. The headline is a little silly. It’s not like they’re running off for a tryst in the broom closet.
I know, I’ve had relatives with Alzheimer’s. It’s very tough if you don’t come to the understanding that they are no longer capable of being WHO you remember them to be.
It truely is among the cruelest of diseases.
Not a big fan of the meds they use, either -— violence is one of the side effects of some.
And who would the rapist be, Kay or the male figure here?
If both are suffereing from the same ailment, I don’t see why Kay would be the innocent one. Do you?
I believe the toughest choice Sandra and the family of Kay had to make, was institutionalizing their family member. I would suspect both families are happy their loved ones have found a comfort that replaces the fatalistic nightmare each faced alone. And yes, when you’re institutionalized in those places for a majority of the time you’re just that, very very alone, isolated and cut off from all that came before.
O’Connor is not one of my favorite SCOTUS Justices (then again, she’s not the worst either), but I must applaud her on this. She’s handling it in a very healthy way.
There was a movie based on a situation like this, that came out within the last year. Except it was a woman entering the nursing facility, and the husband went to visit her every day. I cannot remember the name of the movie, though.
I agree. The very fact that they decided to put him in an assisted-living facility (esp given that I’m sure they have the means and wealth to take care of him at home). means that he has changed so much they can no longer recognize him or he can recognize them. It’s really awful.
By whom? When two senile Alzheimer's patients start a romance, who is the "rapist?"
The Notebook.
I have early onset Alzheimer’s and I’ll be danged if I can convince my girlfriend that the nurse I met at the doctor’s office who diagnosed me, has given me a new lease on life.
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