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Sales of book support Center on Aging by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations A new book for baby boomers and others with families facing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease will help raise money for MUSC’s Center on Aging to fund research on aging-related illnesses.   “The Circle: A Walk with Dementia,” written by artist-author Sally Hughes Smith, hit the local market Oct. 1 and will soon be available in stores nationwide due to an agreement penned with Ingram Books.   Smith's inspiring personal account—closing the family home and moving her mother into an assisted living facility—resulted in the journal-style book that critics have said is: “healing, hilarious and very helpful to those of us sharing similar experiences.”   “The Circle” began as a personal diary written at the suggestion of an old friend as a way to help me cope better with the upsetting and emotional time of dealing with Mother’s dementia, and what changes it would bring to her life and mine,” Smith said. “Only later did thoughts of sharing it with others come to me.”   Smith, whose husband C.D. Smith, M.D., is an MUSC pediatric surgeon, gave “The Circle” to MUSC to raise awareness and support for research into Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, vision and hearing loss and other age-related problems. One hundred percent of the net proceeds will benefit research at MUSC on these and other age-related illnesses.   “Long after I had finished writing my diary, I typed it up and shared it with family and a few close friends. Some of them asked if they could share it with others dealing with the same issues,” Smith said. “This is when things began to change. The diary obviously touched our own family who had lived through this time together.”   What Smith had not anticipated was the degree to which her journal touched people who did not know her or her family.   “The universality of this subject and people’s hunger to learn more about the emotional ups and downs of this time, and how to deal with their own aging loved ones became obvious,” Smith said. “This was when I began to consider the idea of actually publishing the diary. It was suggested that I might partner with MUSC. [The university] showed enthusiasm for the project as a tool of outreach and help for patients as well as something that could bring in funds for research into the issues of aging. Thinking of Mother’s dementia and dear friends who have suffered through Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, I realized I wanted all, not just part, of any money generated by the book to go to research in these fields. That is when I gave MUSC the printing rights.”   “The Circle” is unique in that it addresses the emotional and human side of dealing with dementia, while most available books concentrate on impersonal medical practicalities.   “There is a need for such a book,” said Debbie Bordeau, MUSC’s development director for Neurosciences and the Center on Aging. “Consider that within a year 10,000 people will turn 60 every day in the United States. This aging rate is expected to continue for the next 20 years.”   Smith’s sister, Jane Hughes Coble of Nashville, Tenn., also helped transition their mother from home to an assisted living facility. She explained her experiences as expressed in Smith’s book.   “This is such a poignant and heartfelt book about our family and our efforts to make Mother’s later years as good as they could be,” said Coble. “The four of us are very close and we tried so hard to find the best ideas and solutions as her world changed and dimmed with dementia.   “It is incredible to think of the heartache and loss of so many other families as they face having a wonderful loved one slowly slipping through their arms into another place,” Coble said. “How I hope they have such love and support from each other to help them along this hard passage.”   Like many families, the house in which the Hughes family lived was the center of their universe.   “To move Mother away from all that and also to no longer have it as our family hearth was almost too much to approach,” Coble recalled. “But Sally has put our emotions and planning and processes down beautifully and well. …I think our family has been a circle of love and strength, and that the joys and crises shared have made the circle even stronger. I think this special book is quite a gift from Sally to many other families to come.”   Comments from other readers have included: “I used it like a map and I stayed connected.” “It was a balm for fractured families.” “There is strength in the [book’s] honesty.” “Required reading for our age group!” Smith expressed high hopes of what the book could help do.   “First and foremost, I hope that as it helped me through a dreaded situation, it will help others on their own personal journey facing similar problems with loved ones; that it will say, ‘You are not alone. This can be done with humor and joy mixed in, and that you may not be able to choose your situation, but you definitely are the one to choose how you walk it,’” Smith said.  “I hope [the book] will open up health dialogue within families.   “Secondly, I hope it brings solutions through medical research. As our baby boomer generation steps into the role of caring for our parents, we realize that we are going to be facing these same issues sooner rather than later ourselves. I want better solutions. I look to potential funds “The Circle” may bring to fuel research into those solutions,” Smith said.   “The Circle” has spawned upcoming conferences that focus on the issues covered in the book. These conferences will take place in Charleston and Memphis, Tenn., and include a panel of medical and legal experts who will offer guidance to caregivers. Bordeau said that similar conferences are being considered throughout the state.   To obtain a copy of “The Circle” from MUSC, contact the Center on Aging at http://www.musc.edu/aging or call 792-0712.   In the Charleston area, the book is available at Barnes & Noble, Historic Charleston Foundation shops, Waldenbooks, Books-A-Million, the MUSC Bookstore and other independent book retailers.     Friday, Oct. 13, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.