Receiving a diagnosis of cognitive impairment or dementia can be a jarring experience, to say the least. While some may despair or retreat upon hearing the news, others may feel a reason to reevaluate- or redirect- their lives going forward. Such is the case with agebuzz subscriber Wally Klatch, who reached out to us this summer with a question: Would it be possible to share with agebuzz readers what he has experienced since his diagnosis with mild cognitive impairment? His journey from diagnosis to a newly found purpose has been inspiring, as he is on a mission to share the information and insights he has gained. We were fortunate to be able to recently interview Wally and share the experiential wisdom he has acquired as a result of his diagnosis. Below is an edited version of the conversation between agebuzz Managing Editor Connie Zuckerman and Wally Klatch.

Connie Zuckerman (CZ): Hi, Wally. Thank you so much for reaching out and agreeing to this interview! Can you give us some essential background information about yourself? How old are you? Where did you grow up? What kind of family life were you raised in? What kind of schooling did you achieve? What was/is your professional background and employment while you were working full-time? What is your current family situation?

Wally Klatch (WK): I am 71 years old. I grew up in West Lafayette, IN, the son of a physician and a housewife. There was a nice Jewish community with professors and professionals associated with Purdue University, so that established my Jewish identity. I had three siblings, and we were raised in an educated and liberal environment.

I got my undergraduate degree at Indiana University and my Master’s Degree in Management from Purdue University. I worked as a Management Consultant to large and mid-sized companies in the areas of Organization and Operations, making sure the boxes were right and the lines connected them well.

I grew up with the name Wally Klatch. I moved to Israel and lived there for 30 years. The name “Wally Klatch” is very difficult in Hebrew for several reasons, so while there, I used the Hebrew name David Talmor, which derives from the fifth chapter of the Song of Songs. When I moved back to the US, I reverted to my American name of Wally Klatch.

I am divorced and have four children.

CZ: You have shared that you’ve been diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and that diagnosis has deeply changed the course and direction of your life. Can you describe what led to the diagnosis? Were you having physical or cognitive problems that led you to be concerned? How long after you experienced problems did it take for you to be given your diagnosis? Did you undergo a lot of testing?

WK: I was diagnosed in October 2022, and I felt my memory was declining, but it didn’t alarm me because I assumed it was due to normal aging. It was a specific event that led me to go to the neurologist. I visited the Roman amphitheater in Caesarea and enjoyed it, and called my son to tell him about it. He said, “Dad, we were there together two weeks ago,” and described what we had done, and it was a complete blank for me. That’s when I knew I’d better go see a neurologist. Much later in the process, I also realized that the shock of reality at the beginning left no room for doubt, and I feel I accepted the diagnosis of this horrible condition more than I would have if it were not so certain. These events led to a lot of changes in my life in many ways, more than I could keep track of, to maintain a sense of what’s happening to me. So I created a journal for recording all these things. This is an electronic journal and became the website TheAlzheimersConversation.com.

CZ: What is your current medical situation? Are you enrolled in a clinical trial? Are you under the care of a dementia specialist? How has your health care and well-being changed since the diagnosis, ie, medications, diet, physical activity, stress relief, social activity, etc? Have you been counselled about things you can do to maintain your current cognitive health and lower your risk of further cognitive decline?

WK: I’m under the care of my neurologist, who refers me for specific tests as he sees fit. I am taking quite a few pills each day that are for controlling symptoms, but not aimed directly at the dementia. I am careful to do the recommended activities such as diet, exercise, and mental stimulation, among others. I feel my morning and evening walks are very good for my mind and my body. With these activities, my decline has been slow but perceptible, and I am well aware that even with this, dementia can lead to a fast downturn, which can disable a person within a month. Also, dementia is not a well-defined condition that can be directly measured like blood pressure. In fact, I’ve been diagnosed by different neurologists as having several types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Together with this focus on living, dying has become much more present, and I relate to it much more. Dying makes living more immediate, and living makes dying more meaningful. I picture this as Living and Dying are dancing a duet in my life, and this is described at LivingDyingDuet.com.  This journey of exploring the world of dying led to one of the most meaningful things that happened to me: I created my own tombstone as described at CreatingMyTombstone.com. It took several weeks of thinking, feeling, remembering, and other ways of exploring, but I came up with a 20-word expression of what I feel I’ve brought to the world.  That is not only part of my Tombstone, it is now part of how I live my life, because that is what I’m bringing to the world. My Tombstone is also my Lifestone.

CZ: You have very publicly shared your story with many groups and on many platforms. What has driven you to be so public with your situation? What meaning do you derive from sharing your experiences?

WK: I can’t imagine “keeping inside” something that is so big and having so much impact on my life – I don’t think I would be able to do it, and in several ways it’s a relief and a release for me to speak about it. I also learned from the first times I talked about it how much people want to hear about dementia and also talk about it themselves, and I was glad to be able to open the door for them to be able to do that. This has developed into what I have defined as my mission: to raise Awareness and Conversation about dementia in the community. This loops back to what you asked earlier, about activities that help control the advance of dementia. Having a mission, having a clear purpose, is very helpful in bringing positive energies to a person and avoiding dwelling on their condition.  This is one of many surreal situations that dementia creates – dementia is actually one of the best weapons I have against dementia.

CZ: You have stated that your diagnosis has led you to be open to a more emotional side of yourself- “a more even balance between thinking and feeling” is how you’ve described it. Can you talk about why you think this has come about and how you now experience life that’s different than before your diagnosis? Explain your concept of “Mild Emotional Enhancement” that you believe has arisen since your MCI diagnosis.

WK: I feel that my brain is working less, and that has opened a space for my feelings to be a larger part of how I relate to myself and to the world. I express it that my thinking is coming from my mind and my feeling is coming from my guts. As you say, my mind dominated most of my life, and now my mind and my guts are in what I feel is a better balance to me, to the point where I listen to my guts like I listen to my mind.

As this was happening, I began to realize that I’m feeling things for which there is no word in the English language. For example, the first diagnosis of this condition is MCI, Mild Cognitive Impairment. The first label that doctors and the world put on my forehead is “Impaired”. Yes, my mind is impaired, but that ignores the other part of it, that my guts are having a larger role in my life and are developing. There is no word for this, so next to MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment), I invented MEE- Mild Emotional Enhancement.  There’s more about this at MCIandMEE.com. MEE has changed the way I relate to myself – if this comes up in conversation, I often start by saying that I have MEE, and then let my dementia unfold from that starting point.

This topic continued in several directions. There’s a lot of talk about Mindfulness, but where is Feelingfulness? So I invented that word, and it is described at Feelingfulness.com.

There is a whole vocabulary I had to invent to describe things I was feeling or that were happening to me for which there was no word. These words are found at ItsAResonatingWorld.com/Vocabulary, and I continue to add to them. 

CZ: What activities do you now find meaningful and supportive? For example, do you participate in support groups? Do you seek out public speaking opportunities? Do you try to spend more meaningful time with family and friends?

WK: I find Support Groups very valuable. To be with other people who are in a similar situation to mine allows openness, understanding, and sharing that are difficult otherwise. Most of the Support Groups I’m in are on Zoom, and that’s fine.

Public speaking is a good way to connect with people, and the Jewish Family Service of Denver has been extraordinary in setting these up in many settings. In addition to the speaking, the questions and interaction among the participants are very valuable, and participants have formed groups to continue these conversations. These talks are often at organizations such as synagogues, and the organization supports continued conversation.

I also write articles quite a bit and participate in social media groups, and this is also a very active way for people to connect.

CZ: Your Jewish faith seems to be an important part of your life. Has that always been the case, or has that changed since your diagnosis?

WK: My faith has always been part of my life to one degree or another, and I’ve found that maintaining the connection lets me hold onto something that was there before this terrible process. I also find a way to connect each week’s Bible reading to dementia, and that is at DementiaInTheTorah.com. This helps me feel that dementia is not outside the realm of faith, but rather that I can find guidance in faith as dementia brings so many very difficult challenges.

CZ: If agebuzz readers would like to reach out to you to find out more or to better understand from the experiences you’ve had, what’s the best way to reach out to you? And what online resources have you found useful that others in your situation or their loved ones would find valuable?

WK: There’s a brief contact form at the bottom of the first page of the website TheAlzheimersConversation.com.  Although my e-mail is readily available, I ask that people contact me through the form, and I will respond quickly.

About online resources, there’s another topic that I feel is even more difficult than having dementia, and that is being a caregiver for someone with dementia. Both are better handled with lots of knowledge and lots of support. Resources about dementia itself and caregiving, as well as local and national resources and organizations about dementia and caregiving, are readily available online.  The person with dementia and the family of the person should not hesitate to find and use the resources that are right for them.  Dementia is horrible, and the phrase “I need help” has become very common for me.

CZ: Any last thoughts or insights you would like to share with agebuzz readers?

WK: Yes. After the initial shock of the diagnosis and learning how to somehow connect the word “dementia” to me, I was able to say that this is a battle that I and the people around me have to fight as well as we can. After learning about dementia and what it does to everything and everyone it touches, we put together a picture of what each stage of dementia is like and how we would face it. The feeling that at least we’re not fighting this blind and in constant reactive mode, but rather facing it and dealing with it the best we know how, lets us feel that we’re doing the best we can as we move toward the terrible reality that dementia brings.

CZ: Wally, thank you so very much for participating in this agebuzz interview. We’re excited to be able to share your story and insights with the agebuzz community!

WK: I am very grateful to agebuzz for helping me to fulfill my mission as described earlier, to raise Awareness and Conversation about dementia.