CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Nearly 165,000 Virginians who are 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's Disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association. That includes Lynne Morton who lives with her husband, Jim, in Chesapeake.
For Lynne, her diagnosis came back in 2019.
"I said, 'You know, I feel like my memory is not what it should be' or 'I can't remember things.' I think that's how it started," Lynne said.
That pushed Lynne to consult her primary care doctor and undergo tests.
Eventually, Lynne found out she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.
"Now, suddenly we're confronting dementia and something we've not been aware of in the family before," Jim said.
Not long after, Lynne began infusion therapy treatments which help to slow the decline in memory loss.
Over the last three years, Lynne told News 3's Jay Greene things haven't changed much, but there are a few differences.
"Writing. My writing has gotten worse," she said.
In addition, she no longer drives. Jim gets her from Point A to Point B, and, on occasion, will get a ride from friends.
"He's my personal assistant," Lynne said of Jim. "He takes me anywhere to go."
Lynne is scheduled to have her last treatment on Oct. 3.
Dr. Hamid Okhravi, the director of the Memory Center in the Goldrich Neurohealth Institute at Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, said the FDA has since approved two new infusion treatments for Alzheimer's Disease inlcuding Lecanemab.
"They are anti amyloid antibodies, and they bind to those amyloid plaques that we think are the culprit of Alzheimer's disease," Okhravi said. "And then when they bind to those amyloid plaques, our brain will remove those amyloid plaques from our brain. And these are very powerful medications."
Okhravi said these types of treatments don't restore memory, but they slow the cognitive decline.
For Jim and Lynne, it hasn't stopped either of them from living life to the fullest.
"I mean, you can crawl in a hole if you want to, but that's no fun," Lynne said.
The Mortons will join hundreds of others Saturday morning at Chesapeake City Park for the Walk to End Alzheimer's. Click here for more information.
