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Stories of Hope and Courage-By Joe Guse
Copyright 2006, Aardvark Publishing
To my mother Rosemary Guse, who instilled in methe values necessary to write this book.
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Foreword 
A couple of years ago I thought I had it all. I had had some success in Chicago, traveledoften, and seemingly had everything a young single man could need. Yet still I felt thatsomething was missing. I would lie in bed thinking about the direction my life was going andalways felt vaguely uneasy. One day I got a call from my mother informing me my father haddied, and this marked a turning point for me both personally and professionally. I had never beenclose to my father, and returning home for his funeral I was filled with many conflictingemotions.At my dad’s funeral the priest conducting the services read an excerpt from the book “Tuesday’s with Morrie” which was a book I was familiar with, but that really took on addedmeaning given the circumstances. Hearing the priest talk about regret really struck a cord, andsomething occurred to me at that moment which I’ll never forget.The thing is I had forgotten something in my life that I used to believe very firmly. MartinLuther King’s quote that “Life’s most persistent question is, what are you doing for other people”were words that I had once pledged to live by, but somewhere along the way I had gotten lost.For several years I had been living almost exclusively for myself and I realized at that momentduring my father’s funeral that that was what had been keeping me up at nights.When I arrived home I had made a decision, and shortly afterwards quit my high paying joband began working in a nursing home for the whopping sum of 8 dollars an hour.Walking onto an Alzheimer’s unit for the first time is an overwhelming site. Hearing thescreaming and crying and seeing all the people lined up sitting next to each other simply staringstraight ahead, you get the feeling you must be in an asylum. My first day on the job wasmiserable and I instantly regretted my decision to quit my job and thought about calling my bossand seeing if my job was still available. Two weeks later, I felt more fulfilled than I ever had inmy life.2
 
What was missing in the lives of those people on the Alzheimer’s unit was social interaction.Without stimulation people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease simply wither away, and Iquickly realized, with the assistance of a fellow entertainer (and my boss) Raphael De Ocampothat it was my job to provide this interaction. And so I got to work, and the results of this work are demonstrated by the stories that are provided here.The people in these stories are all very real, and each of them touched me in ways that Icannot fully describe with words. Many of them have died since this book was written, but all of them will remain with me forever.3
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