Coming Up For Air

By Gail Sheehy

Keith Wolfard was accustomed to cycling through the happiest years of his life on his Harley with the arms of his wife wrapped around him. Now, after seven years of pretending that Alzheimer's wouldn't take Daphne from him, he had to face reality. His young wife was losing herself, becoming combative, screaming, and cussing at him. "I came to the realization that it wasn't her that made those words come out," he said.

Once Keith made the painful decision to put Daphne in a residential-care home, he began the hardest part of his journey. He's 62 now and is working his way back out of the labyrinth. He feels both guilty and good about it.

• Continue reading Gail's journal about Keith and Daphne