Theresa Pippen was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 49. The neurological disease caused big changes in her life even before she knew it was the reason for them.
She and her husband, Trey Pippen spoke about early symptoms she displayed before she was diagnosed with the debilitating disease.
They shared their story online
The Florida couple took to their YouTube channel in 2020 to share Theresa’s journey with Alzheimer’s with the world.
“Today we’d like to share with you our story with Alzheimer’s disease,” Trey said.
The couple wanted to raise awareness
“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,” Trey went on.
“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.”
Trey explained Theresa’s early symptoms
Sharing the early symptoms he noticed, Trey explained, “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 became estranged from some family members
Trey went on, “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.”
The symptoms cost Theresa her job
The couple explained that early symptoms of Theresa’s condition caused problems at her job. This was before the couple were aware of her condition.
“She also started having trouble at work. In 2014, she was demoted,” Trey explained.
She used to be an accountant
“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 said.
Despite putting in long hours and managing to hold down her job for two more years, Theresa was terminated.
She didn’t have the same energy
Trey explained that his wife lost her job because unbeknownst to her at the time, she no longer had the energy to process things the way she needed to.
“Her termination occurred at a time where the company was going through a merger and a number of people were laid off,” Trey explained.
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Trey didn’t realize Alzheimer’s was the reason back then
“So, it wasn’t immediately evident to me that it was related to any sort of cognitive impairment that she might have been having,” Trey added.
Trey explained that after struggling to find other jobs and eventually getting one, she was still untimely fired from it and she decided to leave accounting behind.
Theresa explored over avenues
Trey shared that his wife then became a receptionist, and when she was let go from that job too, she ultimately took a job at a local supermarket in 2017.
It became apparent after a year that there was a deeper reason behind Theresa’s struggles, and she eventually received the difficult diagnosis. Unfortunately, Theresa has since passed away in March of last year.
