At 83, Mr. Hockey is still in demand and on the move. Gordie Howe is about to embark on another series of fundraisers to support dementia research. It’s a personal cause. The disease killed his wife, Colleen, in 2009 and is beginning to affect him. “He’s a little bit worse than last year, but pretty close to about the same,” son Marty said. “He just loses a little bit more, grasping for words. The worst part of this disease is there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Howe’s dementia is mild and his family members haven’t sought a diagnosis of exactly what kind he has. They did that with Colleen, who died at 76 of Pick’s disease. The rare form of dementia is marked by changes in mood, behavior and personality, followed by memory loss similar to that experienced in Alzheimer’s.
Another son, Murray, a radiologist, said his father’s symptoms don’t fit Alzheimer’s or Pick’s. Howe has short-term memory loss, difficulty speaking and some confusion in the evening when the sun goes down. The latter, called “sundowning,” occurs in people with dementia, although the cause is unclear.
“He’s always worse in the evening,” Marty said. “It’s like when the sun goes down, something flips the switch.”
