John McClelland was the mastermind of global sales projects.

He led a busy life: was a voluntary firefighter/EMT and smart enough to join Mensa.

He was that guy who didn’t need directions to get anywhere.

Now, John relies on GPS to go from Colorado Springs to Denver, because he no longer recognizes the route.

He doesn’t even recognize Woodland Park firefighters and board members he served alongside for years.

John, 58, has Alzheimer’s disease.

He was diagnosed three years ago after spurts of memory loss. He’d spend hours with a client and the next day not remember ever meeting the person.

At disaster scenes, he’d forget how to communicate with other firefighters.

So, at 55, he had to quit working and fighting fires.

“It was crushing,” he says. “Everything changed.”

But he’s not done with his rescue work. He has a new mission: educating first responders and others about the disease.

“The next drug won’t be in time to save me,” he says. “I’ll be too far gone. About the only thing I can do is explain what it feels like from the inside. I can put a face on Alzheimer’s.”

(See the “Face of Alzheimer’s” video on gazettedev.gazette.com)

John doesn’t appear to have anything wrong.

He is articulate and recalls past events in detail.

His jeans are ironed. Every hair is in place.

“A lot of people just assume I’m normal,” he says.

He is far from his old self. “I couldn’t take a Mensa test today to save my life.”

Alzheimer’s can afflict anyone, at anytime, he says. “Most people have the idea it’s really only old cranky people that get the disease.”

His mom, uncle and granddad got it, but not until they were in their 70s.

He’s keenly aware what’s next: “I lose more and more of the ‘today.’ I’ll be losing more of my vocabulary. At some point I won’t be able to pick up a chain saw and whack a tree down.”

He has a house on 35 acres in Teller County. He and his girlfriend also live in her Springs home. They had a commitment ceremony after lawyers advised against marriage due to his disease.

The Springs is his haven to avoid encounters with people he knows, but can’t remember. It’s as much for his comfort as theirs.

“It’s hard to have people coming out of the fog, talking to you,” he says. “I can’t figure out who they are and I want to disappear.”

He’ll only get worse.

“With this disease there is no remission,” John says. “You are watching the hourglass of your life and realize that each grain of sand that goes through the midpoint is another piece you’ll never be able to get back.”

We talk for a few hours.

“Tomorrow,” he says, “I won’t remember what we talked about.”

—

The Alzheimer’s Association Colorado Chapter’s Memories in the Making Art Auction and Dinner is Thursday, June 3 at the Marriott, 5580 Tech Center Drive. There will be a Memory Walk at America the Beautiful Park in September. For information: www.alz.org/co/

—Got a story?Go to gazettedev.gazette.com/yourspace

John McClelland Photo by

Andrea Brown, Your Space Columnist Photo by