Topics: Health, Psychology, Science, YouTube, Sex and Relationships, Mental Health, Jobs, Business
At just 49 years old, a once-high flying accountant was diagnosed with early-onset Alzeimer's - a crippling disease that saw Theresa Pippen fired from her job and stacking shelves in the space of a year.
But her symptoms were evident for years prior to that, although she and husband Trey Pippen - both from Florida - couldn't put their finger on exactly what it was, with dementia commonly developing in your late 60s and early 70s.
Taking to their YouTube channel in 2020, Trey sat down with his wife to raise awareness of the chronic condition.
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"Today we'd like to share with you our story with Alzheimer's disease," he said.
"Theresa was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease back in November of 2018 at the age of 49 however, our story doesn't start there. It actually starts several years prior to that, back in late 2012/early 2013 where Theresa was starting to show signs of mild cognitive impairment."
Revealing what her early symptoms were, he continued: "However, we didn't really know what it was called back then, but Theresa was definitely starting to change, she was, earliest signs were basically failure to keep commitments or keep promises that she made. She would start projects and not finish them.
"She was starting to spend less and less time with her family, and became estranged from a few of them. Our marriage started to suffer as a result of some of these changes, because I was frustrated with what was going on, and I couldn't figure out what why these changes were taking place."
One of the early symptoms of Theresa's condition, that the couple were not aware of until years later, cause Theresa to have problems doing her job.
"She also started having trouble at work. In 2014, she was demoted. Theresa had worked as an accounting professional for nearly 20 years, and many of those years as a senior financial analyst, and suddenly she was struggling with her job, and she got demoted."
Trey explained how she managed to hold down her job for another two years before being terminated - despite her putting long hours in and being the last to leave work. Unbeknown to Theresa, she simply didn't have the thought power she used to possess.
"Her termination occurred at a time where the company was going through a merger and a number of people were laid off. So, it wasn't immediately evident to me that it was related to any sort of cognitive impairment that she might have been having," he shared.
Theresa then struggled to find a job, which came as a surprise to Trey as she was always the one to proofread his resumes. After several interviews - and one role that she was hired and subsequently fired from - she decided to pack accounting in.
She took up work as a receptionist before she was let go and ultimately took up a job at a local supermarket in 2017.
After a year in the role, Trey explained how it became apparent that something was wrong beyond her simply being stressed and depressed. It was then that they finally received the devastating diagnosis.
Tragically, Theresa has since passed away on March 3, last year.
