OT but kind of not

[Adesmar123]

Ok so this is a delicate topic and I will try to treat it appropriately. Alzheimer's is not an acute illness. You don't "get" it over night. It's slow to develop.

I would appreciate assistance from historians and those who are knowledgeable about the condition.

During the last 5 (?) years of Pat Summit's career, some "unusual"things happened. The complaint to
the NCAA about Geno over Maya Moore comes to mind. The shoulder injury "protecting" her dog also happened. She got divorced. She severed lots of ties with the Tennessee athletic dept before the gender issues arose.


Any thoughts on when her actions might have started to be affected by the disease? I have read that she may have been having symptoms while still coaching. All in all..quite tragic.

 

[OldAlum]

One of the things I found out with my dad is that personality changes and difficulty in executive function (decision making) may happen far before the disease is recognized. My dad became suspicious and even paranoid. It as difficult to reassure him even in the face of evidence. Some of his decisions were based upon that and others upon a lack of impulse control and finally the inability to remember different factors in decision making.

It is a very individual thing, but we noticed the personality changes for about two years before it rose to the level that he received the dementia/Alzheimer's diagnosis.

 

[VAUConnFan]

My feeling is that one pretty much knows that Alzheiemers has set in is when short term memory is little to non existent. She was well aware of what she was doing, the people involved, and could readily answer questions pertaining to the oft mentioned Maya complaint. Then, she coached Tennessee to a national championship in 2008 in the same time frame as the Rutgers clock incident, so, IMO, she was OK in 2008. After that, it really is anyone's guess as to when she was overcome.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Ok so this is a delicate topic and I will try to treat it appropriately. Alzheimer's is not an acute illness. You don't "get" it over night. It's slow to develop.

I would appreciate assistance from historians and those who are knowledgeable about the condition.

During the last 5 (?) years of Pat Summit's career, some "unusual"things happened. The complaint to
the NCAA about Geno over Maya Moore comes to mind. The shoulder injury "protecting" her dog also happened. She got divorced. She severed lots of ties with the Tennessee athletic dept before the gender issues arose.


Any thoughts on when her actions might have started to be affected by the disease? I have read that she may have been having symptoms while still coaching. All in all..quite tragic.

My mom had Alzheimer's for years before she passed away, though it wasn't "early onset", so I'm somewhat attuned to the manifestation of the illness. My WBB seats at USC are 4 rows almost directly behind the opposing head coach, so I get to observe a lot of what goes on with the opposing bench. Believe it or not, I told a friend of mine at one of the games about 3 years before Pat retired, that she was not herself any more. She wasn't particularly old - mid to late 50's, but she was somewhat vacant. Because of her age, I didn't really consider the fact it could be Alzheimer's, but the difference was quite noticeable to someone who only saw her in person once a year.