At her 50th birthday party, Chris Baum VanRyzin said a permanent good-bye to her family and friends. She knew her mind was slipping—she possibly wouldn’t recognize those closest to her the following year. Other symptoms confirmed her fears: she repeatedly asked her husband the same questions. She got lost driving the streets of Appleton, Wisconsin, where she had lived most of her life. She could no longer prepare a simple meal, although cooking was her passion just a decade prior.

“My words were so gone,” Chris explains. “My husband said it was like talking to an empty barrel – all he got back was an echo.”

The culprit that challenged Chris’ memory, personality and independence: early onset Alzheimer’s, a form of dementia. It was the same disease that her mother and her aunt had suffered from for 25 years until it claimed each of their lives in their mid-seventies. And the same disease that Chris’ sister, Lutheran Pastor Mary Kay Baum, also battles.

But now, 10 years after that good-bye party, Chris reclaims her life a little more every day. “Each year I continue to get better, which is a surprise. The pieces of the puzzle are still coming together in a positive way,” she says. Her sister, Mary Kay, is similarly on a path that surpasses merely living with Alzheimer’s, but rather is reversing many of its most debilitating symptoms.

“Our family offers hope. And even stronger than that, survival,” says Chris.

It’s a hope that is largely unavailable from the traditional medical community. And, it’s a hope that Chris and Mary Kay want to share with others through the non-profit organization they founded, forMemory. With the help of a Wheat Ridge Ministries seed grant, forMemory is organizing training sessions in congregations and civic organizations to help others recognize the signs of early-onset Alzheimer’s and get help, publishing resource guides, establishing a summer camp for teens whose family members are affected by the disease, and building a research database tracking early symptoms and survival strategies.

Chris’ earliest symptoms of the disease came at age 41 and mimicked her mother’s: fatigue, a tremor in her hands, body aches, problems with balance and spatial awareness, anxiety, and a stiff or “always mad” look to her face. Yet early-onset Alzheimer’s was not yet recognized by doctors; even today it’s often overlooked.

After living in limbo for 10 years, Chris and her physicians began to grasp the reality of her situation, but still lacked proven medicines or therapies. So Chris launched her research quest to heal her mind, body and spirit. She learned that new studies indicated the brain was repairable – a glimmer of hope. A visit to meet her newborn grandson in 1999 made Chris reflect on the schedule that nurtured his growth – an hour of rest, an hour of nutrition and an hour of stimulation – and caused her to rethink her own.

“I knew Alzheimer’s would take me to a child-like place,” Chris says. “I decided that maybe if I put myself there first and didn’t use my energy to sustain where I was at—if I accepted where I was going to, knowing that the brain was repairable—maybe I could come forward instead of always going backward.”

Chris eventually combined this nurturing approach with medications, herbs, topical anti-inflammatory lotions and nutritional supplements. She reduced stress through meditation and eliminated toxins in her food and environment. “By 2003, I considered myself a survivor – not cured, but no longer in decline,” Chris says. And each year since, Chris takes baby-steps forward.

“I was never as severely affected (by early-onset Alzheimer’s) as Chris due to her model of healing,” explains Mary Kay, whose symptoms began at age 52. “Chris gave me the hope.”

Now the pair, and others like them across the country, are sharing that hope with others through the “Building Bridges of Hope in Early-Onset Dementia” project seeded in part by Wheat Ridge Ministries. And while the dollars were critical to getting started, Mary Kay says Wheat Ridge staff has also been instrumental, equipping them through wise counsel and connecting them to others in similar ministries.

“The Wheat Ridge grant brought our dream to life,” adds Chris. “Without it, it still would be a dream.”

Thank you for partnering with Wheat Ridge Ministries to bring their dream to life and, in the process, bring hope and healing to the more than half-million Americans suffering from early-onset dementia. Your prayers and financial support make all the difference.

Written by Jennifer Halupnik

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