Alzheimer’s, #114

Sunday, November 17, 2013

What does it mean to lose one’s mind? To become someone unrecognizable to our loved ones and peers? Today’s guests, unfortunately, have witnessed this scenario firsthand. They have seen family members transformed by the brain illness Alzheimer’s. As individuals who have relied heavily on their own brains in creating a livelihood for themselves, they offer compelling perspectives on what it means when that is no longer possible.

We hope we are able to give your mind something to ponder as we speak with Tess Gerritsen and Leon Duff. Thank you for joining us.

Guests

Tess Gerritsen

Tess Gerritsen

Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D. While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction. In 1987, her first novel was published. Call After Midnight, a romantic thriller, was followed by eight more romantic suspense novels. Tess’s first medical thriller, Harvest, was released in hardcover in 1996, and it marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Her books have been published in forty countries, and more than 25 million copies have been sold around the world. Her books have been top-3 bestsellers in the United States and abroad. She has won both the Nero Wolfe Award (for Vanish) and the Rita Award (for The Surgeon). Critics around the world have praised her novels as “Pulse-pounding fun” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “Scary and brilliant” (Toronto Globe and Mail), and “Polished, riveting prose” (Chicago Tribune). Her series of novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the TNT television series “Rizzoli & Isles” starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. Now retired from medicine, she writes full time. She lives in Maine.

Leon Duff

Leon Duff is a current volunteer and board member at the Hospice of Waterville Area. Following a 45-year career in education, which included 22-years spent as the Superintendent of school districts in Connecticut and Maine, Leon Duff retired to spend more time with his family—and with his volunteer work. He currently serves on the Kennebec Behavioral Health Foundation Board and the Finance Committee, as well as the Community Impact Teams for the Greater Waterville Area United Way. Duff is the father of four adult children and ten grandchildren.

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