I LOVE Thor. He’s such a cool superhero, surviving Endgame, and being one of the few Marvel superheroes with 4 movies. I could talk about him all day, after all, he is on my wallpaper :), but let’s cut to the chase.
One of the other things that makes Thor so cool is not just the character, but the actor themselves: Chris Hemsworth. He’s been in countless movies and documentaries, including his most recent one, Chris Hemsworth: A Road Trip to Remember. In it, Hemsworth turns the spotlight away from himself and toward his father, Craig, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s; Chris designs a road trip back in time, revisiting key places from their past to explore how their social connection can influence Chris’ father’s life-changing condition.
Because Chris Hemsworth is a pretty mainstream actor, the documentary took care to show the disease through a deeper lens, and its impacts truly hit home. Alzheimer’s is one of the more well-known neurodegenerative diseases, and a quick Google search can get you countless links and therapy options.
About 6.9 million people in the United States age 65 and older live with Alzheimer’s disease… Of the more than 55 million people in the world with dementia, 60% to 70% are estimated to have Alzheimer’s disease. (Mayo Clinic)
Even with this, it doesn’t have a cure.🙄
But techniques to diagnose the disease have vastly increased, as it used to be found in the past only after a patient literally died from it. Now, through brain imaging and various tests, healthcare professionals and researchers are able to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease during life with more certainty.
In Chris Hemsworth’s documentary, you can see how his father, Craig, forgets important details, is unable to remember close friends, and loses valuable memories. It hurts both Craig and his family to see essential moments slip away from beneath his feet. Alzheimer’s disease also contains a genetic component, heightening the chances of others in the family also developing it and facing its challenges.
Alzheimer’s brings with it not only memory loss, but uncertainty about what the next day holds for the patient, and those around them. Every day, patients wonder whether they will be able to move forward when doubt and confusion follow them in every step. Now with countless organizations and intense research toward the disease, people can only hope that the 6.9 million individuals with Alzheimer’s, and those around them, will face another day with a little more certainty than the day before.
This is an amazing sotry and ive learned so much about alzheimers!
Alzheimer's is a nasty beast of a disease. I watched my once extroverted and at times gregarious father retreat deeper and deeper into himself like a fog that started out light so we could still see him and grew denser and denser until we couldn't see him any more. He was an empty shell with his personality buried so deep in the fog that he was essentially gone. And then a month before COVID he was finally free of Alzheimer's and instead of mourning his passing we celebrated it, as after seeing what Alzheimer's had done to him, my whole family was really to see him free of it. I wouldn't wish that disease on anyone. It's downright brutal.