by contributor Donna Shor
Photo credit: Neshan H. Naltchayan
Finding Fun in Alzheimer’s: Grace-fully
An effective reading by a celebrity cast of Act 1 of “Surviving Grace” was presented to great applause at the Phillips Collection. This is Trish Vradenburg’s play about a strong, domineering woman falling victim to Alzheimer’s and her brainy, wisecracking daughter. Finding humor in the humorless situation aids the daughter in her own self-preservation against the reality of her mother’s disease and this gradual loss of she who had been her caring but prickly sparring partner.
The laughs came naturally to this autobiographical play; despite the sadness, her friends know Trish as a witty, nimble-minded woman who has written for TV comedies: “Designing Women,” “Family Ties” and “Kate and Allie.” A former Senate speechwriter, she has also produced countless magazine and newspaper articles, and as a novelist was so successful that her book “Liberated Lady,” was chosen by both the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild as book club selections, then translated into three foreign languages.
Trish had watched her own mother decline, she who had once been a vibrant force, politically active and involved. In Trish’s words: “This elegant lioness was reduced to a glazed-eyed woman in a wheelchair. I watched helplessly as her mind, her dignity, her soul and finally her body succumbed to this killer.”
And Alzheimer’s has no cure.
Trish, with the help of her husband George Vradenburg, an early AOL executive and a philanthropist, began donating time and money to the cause. From 2003 to 2011 they chaired the National Alzheimer’s Gala, raising a total of $9 million dollars with, it is said—but not by them― a chunk of it from their own pockets.
They realized that massive federal funding would be needed, as is done for other diseases, and that this would require an all-out effort to raise the sums needed to combat this neglected disease, the 6th leading cause of death in America.
They founded USAgainst Alzheimer’s, with a network of branches dedicated to raising awareness and stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020. The vital focus now is on lobbying Congress for funds. There are bills at present that may change the picture, but Congress has been slow in responding to this national threat. At present 400 times more money is spent caring for Alzheimer patients than is spent researching treatments or a cure. All this is a drain on Medicare and Medicaid.
Ten million baby boomers will die of it, and their children will bear the emotional and financial burdens. At present, one in eight over sixty-five have Alzheimer’s, it is projected that at over 85 it is one in two.
Their goal – tell Congress to fund research on the disease, and stop Alzheimer’s by 2020.
Last night’s USAgainst Alzheimer’s event is part of an effort to raise funds and awareness of the need. The cast was really superb in the reading of the first act of the play, which is a revised version of its earlier productions.
The daughter was played by actress Marilu Henner, the star of “Taxi” and “Evening Shade” as well as thirty films and six Broadway hits, and is a five-time Golden Globe nominee. The mother was Diane Rehm, Public Broadcasting’s beloved radio personality, a talk-show host and interviewer for thirty years, with more than 2.4 million listeners across the country each week.
The father’s role was done by Dan Glickman, now a honcho with the Aspen Institute, who was Chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America from 2004 until 2010, and earlier served as Secretary of Agriculture after 18 years in the US House of Representatives.
Friend Madge was played by television’s Emmy-winning Meryl Comer, a reporter, producer and business talk show host for eighteen years of the thirty she has been an innovator and leader in her profession. She is a member of the USAgainst Alzheimer’s Network Board and CEO of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative. She is also an at-home caregiver for her husband’s early onset Alzheimer’s disease, and her mother’s late stage Alzheimer’s.
Others in the cast included ABC News “Nightline” co-anchor Terry Moran as Sam Granett His global on-the-scene reportage has covered the Arab Spring revolutions; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the earthquake. in Haiti, wildfires in the West, and Guantanamo. Singer Glen Campbell’s first interview after disclosing his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s was with Terry.
The managing producer of “The Diane Rehm Show,” Sandra Pinkard, played Lorna. She was an early internet executive, and worked in banking as a sales and marketing manager. Stephen F. Schmidt, The Narrator, is a Helen Hayes Award-winning professional actor who just closed in Signature Theatrei’s “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and will soon appear in Ford Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol.”
Supporters included Katherine and David Bradley, John R Dwyer, Jr. Marlene and Fred Malek, Annie Totah, Ruthie LsSalle, Lynne and Joe Horning, Congressman Ed Markey and Dr. Susan Blumenthal, John R. Dwyer, Jr., Vicki and Roger S. Dant, Grace Bender, Carolyn Alper, Carol Brown Goldberg, the Honorable Jane Harman, and Lynda Webster, who organized the evening through her Webster Group.
One romantic moment occurred after the (excellent) dinner, when some words of George reminded us all that love can make the world go around, and that caring enough can even end Alzheimers: George extolled his wife and partner Trish in affectionate words, and presented a perfect white rose to “the love of my life.”
