(Letter to the Editor - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

It has been a learning experience for me since my sister and her ex-husband were involved in an auto accident in Myrtle Beach last Aug. 28, one in which he did not survive. Both of them had been suffering from some dementia and inability to remember, especially short-term things. After being in the hospital for several weeks due to her injuries, she was transferred in October to a nursing home about an hour and a half away. Not a good choice for her. After some time there, God began to put into action his plan to get her up closer to me in Marietta. God used me to accomplish his goal and I began to explore a good nursing home placement near me. I prayed and God provided a room at Waterview Pointe in Marietta, only seven minutes from my house. This was my first choice. It took until mid-December to get her up here, but it worked out.

Dementia/Alzheimers is a terrible disease. From the time she got to Marietta on Dec. 12 till she passed away on March 18 with me holding her hand, I was watching a once vibrant and active 77-year-old deteriorate day by day right before my eyes. I visited every day but for about three times during the three months plus she was at Waterview Pointe. I took a lot of pictures and the changes were happening right in front of me. It is sad to watch a memory thief like Alzheimer’s destroy a life. I learned a lot about this disease that I did not know and did not want to know, but learned it anyway.

However, the biggest “disease” we suffer from in this life is sin. We inherited a sin nature from Adam and if we do not confront it and take advantage of the only cure for it, we are doomed to an eternity away from God in a real place called Hell. Hell makes sense; it is Heaven that is hard to believe. We all deserve Hell but for the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to pay our sin debt.

If you have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, today is the time to do it. We are not immune from memory-robbing diseases. It can happen to any of us. Do not put it off. It is eternally important.

Robert Sadler

Marietta