catching.
Those were the first civil words Marcus had ever heard from a member of the Popovich family.
Two A.M. found Marcus in the kitchen, pounding the keyboard of the computer. Despite the exhaustion of a long and wild night, sleep was eluding him. He couldnât relaxânot until heâd solved the puzzle.
He scoured the internet, using keywords like forgetfulness, confusion , and memory loss , but those always seemed to lead him to sites selling vitamin supplements, âmiracle drugs,â and subscriptions to health magazines. On www.wellnessweb.usa, his search parameters led him to the subtopic Senility , but that couldnât be right. Old people went senile; Charlie was only fifty-four.
He tried different combinations of his keywords on the WellnessWeb site, generating articles on everything from mental illness to hypertension to drug addiction to amnesia. The problem was that his search parameters were too general. Millions of people were confused or forgetful, probably for millions of different reasons. What he needed was something specific to Charlie.
Beside memory loss he typed three letters: NFL .
The link that appeared led to an article in the North American Journal of Medicine:
----
NEW DATA TIES CONCUSSIONS TO ALZHEIMERâS
The NFL is studying a report suggesting that athletes who suffer multiple concussions are at increased risk of developing early-onset Alzheimerâs disease. Recent findings indicate that repeated head trauma injuries, common in high-contact sports such as football and boxing, can cause permanent neurological damage, resulting in a gradual and irreversible decline in short-term memory, language skills, perception of space and time, and eventually the ability to care for oneself.
While Alzheimerâs is ordinarily associated with the elderly, the rare early-onset form of the disease has been known to affect patients as young as thirty. The investigation of a link to sports injuries began after the autopsy of Philadelphia defensive back Andre Waters showed signs of the disorder. Concussions have long been suspected in the Alzheimerâs cases of NFL veterans Ralph Wenzel, John Mackey, and Ted Johnson....
----
The piece went on to describe a condition that destroys memory in an oddly selective way. A patient might forget what he had for breakfast ten minutes earlier, but retain clear recollections from decades before. The effect was that many Alzheimerâs sufferers appeared to be living in the past.
Like a retired athlete who thinks heâs a teenager .
It explained everything about Charlieâs confusion and odd behavior. No wonder Chelsea and Troy were so touchy about their father. They were trying to keep his condition a secret. Thatâs why Mrs. Popovich made regular visits to all her husbandâs usual haunts around town to pay his tabs. As a local hero, Charlie was cut a lot of slack, so long as the stores got their money eventually. Because he was a larger-than-life character around Kennesaw, people assumed he was just idiosyncratic, colorful, quirky. No one realized how sick he was.
Yet.
Marcus was aware of a lump in his throat the size of a cannonball. According to wellnessweb.usa, Alzheimerâs disease never got better. Right now, Charlie had enough memory and mental capacity to function within the small, protected universe he had carved for himself. But that wouldnât last forever. The article said the deterioration might be slow, but it would be relentless. Eventually, poor Charlieâs mind would be wiped practically clean.
What then?
On Sunday, Marcus was at the desk in his room, gazing blearily at the Raidersâ playbook and struggling to keep his eyes open, when he was startled by a sudden clatter at the window. As he went to investigate, a handful of gravel machine-gunned against the glass.
He looked beyond it at the Volvo wagon parked at the curb. He didnât recognize the car, but the girl loading up another
Those were the first civil words Marcus had ever heard from a member of the Popovich family.
Two A.M. found Marcus in the kitchen, pounding the keyboard of the computer. Despite the exhaustion of a long and wild night, sleep was eluding him. He couldnât relaxânot until heâd solved the puzzle.
He scoured the internet, using keywords like forgetfulness, confusion , and memory loss , but those always seemed to lead him to sites selling vitamin supplements, âmiracle drugs,â and subscriptions to health magazines. On www.wellnessweb.usa, his search parameters led him to the subtopic Senility , but that couldnât be right. Old people went senile; Charlie was only fifty-four.
He tried different combinations of his keywords on the WellnessWeb site, generating articles on everything from mental illness to hypertension to drug addiction to amnesia. The problem was that his search parameters were too general. Millions of people were confused or forgetful, probably for millions of different reasons. What he needed was something specific to Charlie.
Beside memory loss he typed three letters: NFL .
The link that appeared led to an article in the North American Journal of Medicine:
----
NEW DATA TIES CONCUSSIONS TO ALZHEIMERâS
The NFL is studying a report suggesting that athletes who suffer multiple concussions are at increased risk of developing early-onset Alzheimerâs disease. Recent findings indicate that repeated head trauma injuries, common in high-contact sports such as football and boxing, can cause permanent neurological damage, resulting in a gradual and irreversible decline in short-term memory, language skills, perception of space and time, and eventually the ability to care for oneself.
While Alzheimerâs is ordinarily associated with the elderly, the rare early-onset form of the disease has been known to affect patients as young as thirty. The investigation of a link to sports injuries began after the autopsy of Philadelphia defensive back Andre Waters showed signs of the disorder. Concussions have long been suspected in the Alzheimerâs cases of NFL veterans Ralph Wenzel, John Mackey, and Ted Johnson....
----
The piece went on to describe a condition that destroys memory in an oddly selective way. A patient might forget what he had for breakfast ten minutes earlier, but retain clear recollections from decades before. The effect was that many Alzheimerâs sufferers appeared to be living in the past.
Like a retired athlete who thinks heâs a teenager .
It explained everything about Charlieâs confusion and odd behavior. No wonder Chelsea and Troy were so touchy about their father. They were trying to keep his condition a secret. Thatâs why Mrs. Popovich made regular visits to all her husbandâs usual haunts around town to pay his tabs. As a local hero, Charlie was cut a lot of slack, so long as the stores got their money eventually. Because he was a larger-than-life character around Kennesaw, people assumed he was just idiosyncratic, colorful, quirky. No one realized how sick he was.
Yet.
Marcus was aware of a lump in his throat the size of a cannonball. According to wellnessweb.usa, Alzheimerâs disease never got better. Right now, Charlie had enough memory and mental capacity to function within the small, protected universe he had carved for himself. But that wouldnât last forever. The article said the deterioration might be slow, but it would be relentless. Eventually, poor Charlieâs mind would be wiped practically clean.
What then?
On Sunday, Marcus was at the desk in his room, gazing blearily at the Raidersâ playbook and struggling to keep his eyes open, when he was startled by a sudden clatter at the window. As he went to investigate, a handful of gravel machine-gunned against the glass.
He looked beyond it at the Volvo wagon parked at the curb. He didnât recognize the car, but the girl loading up another
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