Carl Kegerreis wrote a novel to foster the memory of his wife who passed away on March 1, 2021. Interestingly, the novel with the title I Wish I Had Those Gasoline Pellets has, as one of its protagonists, Captain Oley Washington Jr., a war hero who suffered from amnesia for more than ten years. Kegerreis’s wife fell victim to Alzheimer’s disease that is characterized by memory loss just like amnesia. In a sense, the book is a marriage of Alzheimer’s disease and amnesia. By writing the book, Kegerreis does not want readers to forget the people in their lives who have lost memories.
The curse of Amnesia
When a person has amnesia, his recollection of events before or after the onset of amnesia may be hazy or impaired. Captain Washington’s memories were lost because of the severe head beatings he got from the war protesters who were out for blood. It is called post-traumatic amnesia, a condition that results because of a serious injury to the head. There is no prescribed medical treatment for amnesia. Therapies to improve memory recall are suggested for patients as well as physical exercise and a healthy lifestyle.
The tragic Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is even more difficult to deal with. The presence of so-called neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques in the brain signal the presence of the disease. Nerve cells or neurons in the brain gradually lose connections to each other. The cause of Alzheimer’s disease is also not well understood. Symptoms first appear years after the onset of the disease. What is certain is that it leads to degeneration of memory and thinking skills, and eventually prevents a person from carrying out even the simplest of tasks.
Kegerreis’s Lilly Runyan
The author was able to immortalize sweet memories of his wife in the character of the vivacious, pretty, and indomitable Lilly Runyan. Lilly was instrumental in jogging Captain Oley’s memory. How we wish such a simple cure could be found for all persons afflicted with amnesia or Alzheimer’s disease.
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