Too Soon To Forget: the Journey of Younger Onset Alzheimer’s Disease

Documentary for public television will premiere on Nov. 5 at Elmhurst College

Alzheimer’s disease is a life-altering challenge for not only the people with the disease but also those who care for and about them. Getting the diagnosis in midlife poses another level of unique and difficult challenges.

Too Soon to Forget: The Journey of Younger Onset Alzheimer’s Disease is a documentary for public television that shares the emotional experience of nine families living with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease. The documentary will premiere on Sunday, Nov. 5 beginning at 6 p.m. at Hammerschmidt Chapel on the campus of Elmhurst College.

Too Soon to Forget is narrated by Dan Gasby, husband of celebrity chef and lifestyle Maven B. Smith, who was diagnosed with younger onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 62. Gasby and Smith are the authors of Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, and Acceptance in Our Fight Against Alzheimer’s.

A panel discussion will follow the screening, featuring Gasby; the film’s director-producer, Ted Kay; Rev. Shawna Bowman, an artist who created Paintings of Too Soon to Forget; and Raj C. Shah, a physician and an associate professor of family medicine with the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center.

The moderator is Susan Frick, executive producer of Too Soon to Forget, a social worker at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center and an Elmhurst College alumna. This event is sponsored by TMK Productions and Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, in partnership with Elmhurst College.

Admission is free but reservations are required, at elmhurst.edu/tix. Copies of the book Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, and Acceptance in Our Fight Against Alzheimer’swill be available for purchase at the event. For more information, call (630) 617-5186.