Alzheimer’s, she said she was in absolute shock.“It was total devastation, my heart sank,” Schechter said. “I knew my life would never be the same.”Schechter’s mother, Donna, was a few weeks shy of her 65th birthday when the diagnosis was made.
Schechter said the new reality was difficult to process.“I think from that moment on I was just mourning,” Schechter said. “I felt a loss for the life I should be living, and the mom I should be having that I felt like I lost at that moment.” Former cabinet minister shares family’s struggle as husband battles young-onset Alzheimer’s Evidence suggests that women are disproportionately affected when it comes to diseases that affect the brain.