It’s their way to find humor in what, for many of them, is a frightening situation, Larry Schexnaydre said. He and more than 60 other members of his generation in the Bourgeois family suspect that their family’s genes make them susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease.
Schexnaydre’s mother, Barbara Schexnaydre, and eight of her brothers and sisters have been diagnosed with probable Alzheimer’s disease while another sister is showing symptoms of it, Larry Schexnaydre said Sunday before a fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Services of the Capital Area. That means at least 10 of his grandparent’s 12 children could eventually be diagnosed with the disease.
While the disease cannot be definitively diagnosed until after death when the brain can be examined, most of Maurice and Elizabeth Bourgeois’ children still living with probable Alzheimer’s disease show many of the classic symptoms: short-term memory loss, disorientation and language problems.
Barbara Schexnaydre is in better shape than some of her siblings as she exhibits only short-term memory loss, Larry Schexnaydre said. But even then, he said, the inevitable progression of the disease that has no known cure makes him worry about her future and that of the rest of his family if the disease is found to have genetic ties.
“You do what you can to be able to healthily cope with it,” Schexnaydre said after he joked about being unable to remember when his mother was diagnosed. “But it’s pretty scary for a lot of us.”
To raise money and awareness about the disease, the Bourgeois family organized “A Time to Remember” black-tie dessert social and silent auction Sunday at the Holiday Inn.
In all, the event raised more than $18,000 for Alzheimer’s Services of the Capital Area, which provides education and support services to Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers.
Nicole Colvin, the event coordinator for the Alzheimer’s Society, said Bourgeios family members are also shown in a promotional video for the society and together had a team of more than 70 people during the society’s “Walk to Remember” this year.
But the family’s greatest impact could be in its ability to be studied to determine if genetics plays a role and what role genetics plays in Alzheimer’s disease, she said.
In February, a research team from the Mayo Institute in Jacksonville, Fla., traveled to Ascension Parish where its members tested more than 200 members of the Bourgeois family, including the descendants of Maurice and Elizabeth Bourgeois. The results of the genetic testing and answers to a questionnaire are part of a national study examining the link between Alzheimer’s and genetics.
The family’s hope is that by participating in the study and helping to raise funds for Alzheimer’s outreach and research, the disease could be diagnosed earlier and treatment could be developed, said Iva Tullier, one of Schexnaydre’s cousins who helped organize Sunday’s event. For Tullier’s mother, Cecilia — who had to be placed in a nursing home and can no longer remember her children — and for her aunts and uncles, that research will likely come too late to stop the progression of the disease.
But Tullier said she and her cousins want to help future generations.
“If the percentage stays the same, there’s going to be a lot of people in our family with Alzheimer’s,” Tullier said. “We want to do what we can.”
Advocate staff writer John Colvin contributed to this report
