Storyteller Spotlight: Rita Perdichizzi
Rita Perdichizzi of Fayetteville, Georgia, is taking a proactive — and positive — approach to her diagnosis of early-onset dementia.
Mar 21, 2020
Rita Perdichizzi knows vividly how relentless Alzheimer’s disease is, having helped care for her father the five years he lived with it before dying at age 76. As his disease progressed, he lost his ability to recognize people and even to read, although he had been a teacher.
In 2015, at age 60, Rita began experiencing concerning symptoms herself. “I was struggling to remember certain words and was having to put more thought into cooking,” Rita says. “My husband, Ettore, had also noticed issues with repetitiveness, that I was forgetting recent conversations or having watched a television program, and that I was making more notes than usual.”
Rita decided to undergo a neurological evaluation, which involved a series of tests over the span of two days. “When I went in for the results, it was obvious it was bad news,” Rita recalls. “The neurologist had my husband and daughter sit to each side of me and asked that I sit in the middle. When he told me, I started crying and asked, ‘Are you sure?’ The diagnosis came as a shock.”
Rita’s neurologist has since enrolled her in clinical trials, and she is taking a combination of medications that seem to be slowing the progression of her illness. And though she notes that information and resources for people with dementia had been lacking, she is now making planning and communication with family members and her doctors a priority. She is also committed to keeping positive: “I choose to maintain my sense of humor and avoid negative thoughts as much as possible. I can think, ‘I won’t be around or lucid when my grandson graduates,’ or I can redirect my thinking to focus on what I will be around for. You have to accept the limitations and work with what you have.”
