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As a service manager for Qwest, he worked with Omaha's large corporations. His wife said he was so smart, he could do calculus in his head.
But in his mid-50s, Tom Hurst of Omaha would forget thoughts in mid-sentence and struggle to find words. By 58, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and soon retired.
Although people associate the disease with the elderly, about 10 percent are under age 65, stricken with “young onset” Alzheimer's. There's an Omaha support group, many of whose members will take part in Sunday's “Memory Walk,” an annual fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association.
“It's such a heartbreaking disease,” said Kathy Tewhill, Hurst's wife of 22 years. “Tom can't work a computer anymore, he can't use e-mail. He likes yardwork, but he has trouble remembering how to start the lawn mower.”
He is now 66, a former avid reader. His wife, who teaches part time at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the College of St. Mary, said she celebrates the things he can still do.
“His brown eyes never fail to light up when I come home from school,” she said. “He'll summon me to see cardinals gathered at our backyard feeder and watch squirrels scamper up and down our pine trees.”
The Memory Walk, at the Chalco Hills Recreation Area, starts at noon. For more information, go to www.alz.org/midlands.
Contact the writer:
444-1132, michael.kelly@owh.com
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