Posted on 03/10/2002 4:37:43 PM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
Nation: Husband still trying to locate missing Alzheimer's-afflicted wife
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (March 10, 2002 7:41 p.m. EST) - Three months after his Alzheimer's-afflicted wife vanished at a busy Texas airport, Joe Dabney is still too heartbroken even to open her luggage.
"All I want is my wife," the 63-year-old said. "She really was the only woman I ever loved. I just want to know that she's OK, what happened."
Margie Dabney, 70, vanished after her plane landed Dec. 5 at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
She and her husband, who uses a wheelchair, were traveling on American Airlines from Indianapolis to Los Angeles. Joe was taking his wife to her daughter's house in Indianapolis so she could watch over Margie while he had hip surgery.
An airline attendant got them to Gate 35 to meet with a wheelchair aide who was supposed to take them to Gate 39. The attendant escorted Joe Dabney into the restroom, but when they came out they couldn't find Margie Dabney.
Airline officials say the attendant may not have realized he was responsible for both Dabneys, or that Margie Dabney had Alzheimer's. Joe Dabney and his family blame the airline and the airport for her disappearance.
Since Margie Dabney's disappearance, officials have searched the Dallas-Fort Worth airport's 18,000 acres by ground and air. They have also checked hospital psychiatric wards, churches, truck stops and morgues.
Dallas activists have circulated more than 5,000 fliers, and American Airlines has hired a private investigator.
But the airline waited 75 minutes before contacting police, and the airport waited hours to contact members of the news media, who often put out reports describing missing people and asking the public to call police with information.
"The first two hours are critical," said Brian Hance, who runs the national Alzheimer's Association Safe Return program. "Nearly 60 percent of people with Alzheimer's will wander at some point. If they're not found within 24 hours, at least 46 percent may die, normally succumbing to hypothermia or dehydration."
American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea Rader said she didn't know whether the airline would take any responsibility for losing Margie Dabney "because there's a lot of nuances to it, and a lot of things we just don't know at this stage of things. Our actions certainly say that this was a terrible thing that happened to one of our customers, that we really pulled out the stops."
Airport spokesman Ken Capps said airport police will undergo training on how to respond when a memory-impaired person goes missing, but he added, "We feel quite comfortable with our efforts in this case."
An estimated 4 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, which progressively robs all memory. By the year 2050, that number is expected to grow to 14 million.
Margie Dabney weighs less than 100 pounds and has high blood pressure and diabetes. She wore no medical identification bracelet and has wandered before, once disappearing for three days in Bakersfield while her husband used a bus depot restroom.
The couple have been married 34 years and have 10 children.
God have mercy...
Of course they do, but Joe never informed AA that his wife had Alzheimers.
One of the daughters was all over television after this happened; one of the reporters asked her why one of the children wasn't with their parents.
She said taking care of her parents was "the airline's responsibility."
. . .and I suspect a 'God speed' as well.
Sad. . .the things that happen to good people.
Was she wearing any ID?
. . .'victim' of a Liberal 'aculturation' no doubt. . .
We always kept a small wallet in her pocket, with our name and address, and phone number, and an explanation of her condition, and if you found her, would you please return her...
But she was so quick when she wanted to be, that you almost could not let her out of your sight for even a minute...once she became bedridden, it was almost easier to care for her...at least we always knew where she was...
But this Alzheimers is so devastating...in the end, my mom was bedridden, incontinent, could not longer talk, and had no idea who I was...while she was still talking she would ask for me, and when I said, "Mom, I am right here", she would look at me as if I was nuts....she said, no, my daughter is only 8yrs old...she would tell me I was a nurse, hired from out of town, to care for her...It breaks your heart to see once vibrant, wonderful people, lose themselves in their now demented minds...
Perhaps they should check the garages of nurses-aides in the area!
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