Dorothy Horne Finds Glimpses of Grace in Alzheimer’s Care

By Dorothy Horne, Texas, US

My husband, Byron,  was diagnosed in 2011 with early onset Alzheimer’s at age 62. He died on May 29, 2018. It still seems like yesterday. By God’s grace he lived a meaningful life through it all. Much of my book, Glimpses of Grace: Walking in Hope through Alzheimer’s and Ordinary Days tells our story. It also offers an inspirational and often humorous view of the grace and trial of our ordinary days, aside from the disease.

We strongly felt that sharing our story and God’s provision was our calling and ministry at this point in our lives. Knowing that was of great comfort to both of us until the very end. It still is to me. I will also share some of the following story about our daughter’s mental illness. Telling her story is how my writing got started and eventually led to my book.

In 2007, our daughter was diagnosed with postpartum depression, which triggered a severe mental illness after the birth of her first son. At one point, I wrote a long “Letter to the Editor” to our local paper about the broken mental health system and other frustrations we were encountering in our efforts to find help. After I submitted it, the editor emailed me back and asked if they could run it as a column. I told him that would be fine, and that I had much more I wanted to write about if he would like me to continue submitting. What I had in mind were the serendipitous “glimpses of grace” we were also beginning to see in the midst of her very difficult circumstances.

The editor said yes, so I got my daughter’s permission to share her story and began writing about it. That was my start in becoming a columnist and later, an author.  (The paper would continue to run my columns for what turned out to be the next 10 years – still counting.) They offered me a blog site on their online site that I posted to weekly for a long time. From 2009-2011, my columns included a variety of topics and humorous “slices of life,” as well as our daughter’s journey through mental illness and God’s grace.

Then in 2011, my husband received his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. At least, we told ourselves, we already know that God will provide and that we will see glimpses of His grace in this journey, also, since we had seen Him do just that in the midst of our daughter’s situation.

So I began to write about our Alzheimer’s journey instead of mental illness as my main topic. Since our lives were not yet centered around his disease, I  continued to occasionally intersperse other writings among the Alzheimer’s entries. As the disease progressed, I wrote more and more about our struggles and faith journey. I chose to acknowledge but not focus on the negative aspects of living with the disease, but rather on how God was working through it as our family sought to walk with His provision and strength.

Many people told me how reading my columns helped and inspired them or a loved one. I received much encouragement to consider compiling them into a book. After praying about it (and getting numerous offers of help since this book would be self-published), I decided to go for it.

I worked on it a little over a year; it was published in March of 2015. The overlying theme is not about a disease but rather about God’s grace, hope and provision in all circumstances. The goal of the book is to point towards God as the source of our strength and light.

This year I plan to begin compiling a second collection of my columns, chronicling the last four years of our journey  as well as my own grief journey.

Purchase Glimpses of Grace

Dorothy has written a second book, Glimpses of Grace: And Grace Will Lead Us Home

About the Author

Dorothy Horne, a retired first grade teacher, lives in East Texas and is a columnist, author, blogger and speaker.  In addition to her local paper, she has had articles published in Buckner International magazine. She was named a “Star Over Longview” in 2015 for raising awareness about Alzheimer’s disease through her writing. Her greatest delights are her four grandsons. In addition to writing, she enjoys reading, photography, cycling and travel. Dorothy continues to write columns and blog at www.dorothyhorneauthor.com and Glimpses Of Grace.

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