My dad had early onset Alzheimer’s disease. I first knew something was wrong with him in 1995. He was 49 then, and I was just about to start the eighth grade. That’s the summer his company backed him into a corner and told him to quit or be fired. He had worked there 14 years. They said his behavior was changing, and they thought he was doing it on purpose. It took seven years to get an actual diagnosis. The doctors looked for everything. They just thought he was too young.
I’ve relied on materials found in my parents’ house from those days. But I’ve also let my imagination run, and added some forms of my own. Besides, isn’t life just one series of what actually happened and then the years we spend looking backward at our own memories trying to sort it out? This is my Dad’s story. And, it’s my story too.
","abstract_html":"<p>My dad had early onset Alzheimer’s disease. I first knew something was wrong with him in 1995. He was 49 then, and I was just about to start the eighth grade. That’s the summer his company backed him into a corner and told him to quit or be fired. He had worked there 14 years. They said his behavior was changing, and they thought he was doing it on purpose. It took seven years to get an actual diagnosis. The doctors looked for everything. They just thought he was too young.</p> <p>I’ve relied on materials found in my parents’ house from those days. But I’ve also let my imagination run, and added some forms of my own. Besides, isn’t life just one series of what actually happened and then the years we spend looking backward at our own memories trying to sort it out? This is my Dad’s story. And, it’s my story too.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Strode, Derick Brandon"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Department of English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Dale Rigby, Director, Dr. Kelly Reames, Dr. David J. Bell"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-09-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-09-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:08:16Z","subjects":["Alzheimers disease","creative writing","English Language and Literature","Life Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1228","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Dale Rigby, Director, Dr. Kelly Reames, Dr. David J. Bell"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Strode, Derick Brandon"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Alzheimers disease","creative writing","English Language and Literature","Life Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1228"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["My dad had early onset Alzheimer’s disease. I first knew something was wrong with him in 1995. He was 49 then, and I was just about to start the eighth grade. That’s the summer his company backed him into a corner and told him to quit or be fired. He had worked there 14 years. They said his behavior was changing, and they thought he was doing it on purpose. It took seven years to get an actual diagnosis. The doctors looked for everything. They just thought he was too young.
I’ve relied on materials found in my parents’ house from those days. But I’ve also let my imagination run, and added some forms of my own. Besides, isn’t life just one series of what actually happened and then the years we spend looking backward at our own memories trying to sort it out? This is my Dad’s story. And, it’s my story too.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Foreclosure and Other Essays"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Dale Rigby, Director, Dr. Kelly Reames, Dr. David J. Bell"],"dc:creator":["Strode, Derick Brandon"],"dc:description.abstract":["My dad had early onset Alzheimer’s disease. I first knew something was wrong with him in 1995. He was 49 then, and I was just about to start the eighth grade. That’s the summer his company backed him into a corner and told him to quit or be fired. He had worked there 14 years. They said his behavior was changing, and they thought he was doing it on purpose. It took seven years to get an actual diagnosis. The doctors looked for everything. They just thought he was too young.
I’ve relied on materials found in my parents’ house from those days. But I’ve also let my imagination run, and added some forms of my own. Besides, isn’t life just one series of what actually happened and then the years we spend looking backward at our own memories trying to sort it out? This is my Dad’s story. And, it’s my story too.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1228"],"dc:subject":["Alzheimers disease","creative writing","English Language and Literature","Life Sciences"],"dc:title":["Foreclosure and Other Essays"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of English"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:08:16Z"}