Dec 28, 2014 2 min read

For 13 years, Dolores Jackson’s body and mind were invaded by a pernicious disease called Alzheimer’s.

The 83-year-old mother of four daughters was once an outgoing woman, full of life, who loved to travel and shop – until 2001, when Dolores and her family received the diagnosis.

The disease became so pervasive that her family was left with no choice but to place Dolores in a nursing home in Rices Landing in 2005. She remained there until she died Aug. 11.

Dolores’ story was told in July in heart-wrenching detail by two of her daughters, Jennifer Faddis of Carmichaels and Patricia Mattucci of Jeannette, and Nicole Faddis, one of Dolores’ 10 grandchildren, as part of the Observer-Reporter’s ongoing series, “No Longer Me.”

As Dolores lay in a nearly comatose state in a first-floor bedroom at Haney’s Personal Care Home, no one knew that the once-vital woman would lose her hard-fought battle a month later.

The woman lying in that bed was not the woman her two daughters knew, and it was extremely difficult for the family to see Dolores’ condition worsen at each visit. Family members either declined to be interviewed or could not be reached for this story.

Jennifer said in July, “It is so hard to see my mother’s degeneration. It is very hard, and this horrible illness is just as hard on the family because we see her physical decline. Her essence is lost, and what she was has been stolen away from her.”

Patricia, also becoming very emotional during that interview, said the family had been through a lot in the last 14 years. “I have prayed for her to go. Each of us has been praying that her time to go home will come. We can’t be selfish hoping that she stays, knowing how much she hates just existing.”

Their compassionate prayers were answered, and the years of suffering and heartbreak were over. The burden had been lifted, and Dolores is now at peace.