Posted on 10/23/2018 9:52:22 AM PDT by Kaslin
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’ Connor, the first woman to ever sit on the Supreme Court, revealed on Tuesday that she is suffering from dementia and likely Alzheimer's disease. The diagnosis had been made "some time ago."
"While the final chapter of my life with dementia may be trying, nothing has diminished my gratitude and deep appreciation for the countless blessings in my life," she wrote in a public letter. "As a young cowgirl from the Arizona desert, I never could have imagined that one day I would become the first woman justice on the U.S. Supreme Court."
O'Connor is 88 years old. She said she wanted to compose this letter while she is "still able to share some personal thoughts."
NOW she tells us !!!!!
It has to be scary, having enough self awareness to know for a fact that your abilities are receeding.
She remains fully active for a very long time after ‘retirement’. The Judge was used to all the hard work and fully applying her intellect. She seemed to have really enjoyed her job, not just the status of ‘being the first’.
Legalese is NOT an easy language for most people.
**I think JFK Jr. RIP, had to take the Bar Exam at least five times before he (was allowed to) pass.
My father-in-law who died last year with lewy body dementia, had been an aeronautical engineer with top secret clearances at NASA. It was horribly sad to watch his decline knowing there was nothing to stop it.
My 94 year old uncle a Omaha D-Day 1st wave veteran is in the nursing home with dementia. Last week his wife showed up to visit, she is about bling and barely gets around and he started telling her how pretty she was and talking to her and then asked her if she was married and she said yes and then chatted for a while and he told her his wife was coming to see him from his old hometown and that he lived in that city. He hadn’t lived there in 70 years and after a few minutes he realized she was his wife and just kept right on talking to her.
I had another WWII uncle who passed a few years back with dementia and currently have another uncle who has it as well. Recently I noticed my Dad in his mid-70’s is starting to forget things and repeat himself. I hope this cup passes by him but am preparing for the worst it seems to run in the family.
What a beautiful statement. Short, dignified, uplifting, heartfelt.
Thank you for your service, Justice O’Connor.
Conversation at My House
Me: Mom, Sandra Day O’Connor just announced thst she has Alzheimer’s too. See, it doesn’t discriminate, look at all the smart people who have gotten it?
Mom: Sandra Day O’Connor has Alzheimer’s? That’s terrible! How could this happen??
Me: It just does. It’s not fair. You’ve had Alzheimer’s for 8 years now.
Mom: I have Alzheimer’s??
And thus begins my next Groundhog Day. ;)
Prayers up for the family O’Connor.
I’ll say a prayer for her.
My mom had dementia.
One can only wonder about RBG.
Omg that is so sad. In retrospect she should have stayed on the court. Poor thing, and now she goes the same way. Just like my parents. I HATE THIS DISEASE and I hope we find the secret to preventing it.
I hope so too.
My dad had dementia. Short term memory was gone. He didn’t live long enough to lose it all.
I am about as partisan as they come, but there are times we have to give it a break. I would not be someone who would have shed a tear for the likes of Stalin or Castro, but there is a time and a place for all things.
Thanks for saying so.
In some ways you and he were lucky. Though often at the start, the person is so unhappy, because they realize they are losing their minds. It is a little better in some ways when they are no longer upset about that as they don’t know they lost it. Mom thinks she is perfectly fine, with just about zero executive functioning or short term or much long term memory.
That’s what happened to my late mom. She fought against selling her home and moving to assisted living, always talked about going home, did not participate in activities.
Then when she deteriorated and went to a nursing home, she quit asking to go home, would smile and laugh, and greet everybody who walked past her even if she had just seen them 2 minutes ago. She spoke a lot of gibberish, but she was so happy the staff was crazy about her.
Maybe lucky...My dad was a WW 2 combat vet and was a builder(bricklayer) - vibrant -
Seeing him like that ? oh boy.
It saddens me that I have lived a longer life than he did.
My dad’s wife was his caretaker and I have so much respect for caretakers...
I can’t imagine what you’ve been through with your folks, so yeah, maybe we were lucky.
. . . after she left the court to take care of him!! Ouch.
“’ The diagnosis had been made “some time ago.”’
Just can’t remember when exactly
i was wrong. they didn’t get married. Sandra never divorced her husband.
Sandra Day was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Harry Alfred Day, a rancher, and Ada Mae (Wilkey). She grew up on a 198,000-acre cattle ranch near Duncan, Arizona. The ranch was nine miles from the nearest paved road. The family home did not have running water nor electricity until Sandra was seven years old. She hunted from a young age, using a .22-caliber rifle to shoot jackrabbits for food. She began driving as soon as she could see over the dashboard and had to learn to change flat automobile tires herself...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Day_O’Connor
When Sandra Day OConner was 11, they did not have that many things that actually required electricity
For all her faults, I still feel for her.
:(
Feelz
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