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SALT LAKE CITY — A few years ago, Beverly Miller couldn't remember how to cook dinner. Then, in 2010, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.
"I was so glad to find out what it was. Even if it was the worst thing in the world," she said.
Leonard and Kathryn Romney noticed similar forgetfulness in Kathryn's regular activities.
"I thought I was 100 percent normal and I would always be that way," Kathryn Romney said.
She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2009.
Both couples try to continue their regular activities of yoga, art classes, dance lessons and cooking.
But the reality of the disease can be hard to deal with.
"Alzheimer's robs, steals; it takes," Bill Miller said.
"It's a dreadful killer," Beverly Miller said.
Especially for their husbands, who have now taken on the roll of caregiver.
"The last four years were the good times. And we look at them as that. Now that's beginning to change a little bit," Bill Miller, Beverly's husband, said.
Leonard Romney thought the disease would be manageable.
"I mean, we're Kathryn and Leonard. We've had this 45-year marriage, it's just been wonderful. So we're going to be able to handle this just fine," he recalled thinking. "I was so incredibly naive."
Mark Johnston is a physician and researcher of Alzheimer's Disease. He also does clinical trials with many Alzheimer's patients.
"The people that I've worked with show a private courage and dignity that is tremendously encouraging," he said.
Johnston wanted to honor the couples, who embody the resilience of the human spirit.
"I was inspired to write a musical piece as a thank you to the individuals who I'd worked with," he said.
The first movement celebrates a normal, productive life.
"The second movement really addresses the reality of facing illness," Johnston said.
"You become an individual who is really devoting most of your time to assisting and helping a person who needs your help," said Bill Miller.
The final movement, Johnston said, is a celebration of perseverance.
"You're fulfilling a commitment that you made many years before to take care of each other," Leonard Romney said.
That's too much burden to carry around, feel sorry for yourself. So that's made it a whole lot easier. I'm still here, that's my motto. I'm still here.
–Beverly Miller
Beverly Miller said she had to learn to change her outlook on life and the disease.
"That's too much burden to carry around, feel sorry for yourself. So that's made it a whole lot easier," she said. "I'm still here, that's my motto. I'm still here."
Kathryn Romney has also found similar joy in her life.
"I feel happy, and I don't go around like that," Kathryn Romney said, as she pulled the corners of her mouth down to a frown.
And their husbands have found joy in caregiving.
"You now get to take care of, in my care, her who spent most of her life raising your kids and turning them into what they are today," Leonard Romney said.
