Cause of Death

One of my distant cousins recently commented that she wished she knew more about the circumstances of her grandparent’s deaths – especially because there are so many diseases where genetics plays a part in the “risk factor” of one getting that disease. I thought that it would be a good idea to document the cause of death of my grandparents and my parents.

Maternal Grandfather – Harold Granger Pierpont

Grampy Pierpont was born on 3 March 1898 and died on 30 November 1969 when he was only 71 years old. But there was no disease that was involved in his death. He had set up a ladder to clean the gutters on the back side of their house in Waterbury. The land on that side of the house sloped away from the house, so the bottom of the ladder was on that sloped surface. Although he had done this many times before, for some reason this time the ladder slipped and he fell to the ground on the paved driveway several feet below. He did not die immediately, but succumbed a few days later in the hospital as a result of his injuries.

Maternal Grandmother – Sara Emma [Blackman] Pierpont

Grammy Pierpont was born on 2 January 1898 and died on 18 December 1979 at the age of 81. That was a fairly long life for her generation. I do not know the exact cause of her death, except that she had been hospitalized a few weeks earlier. She had always been a short and somewhat rotund person, so that could have played a factor, but I really don’t know the exact circumstances. According to other family members, she is reported to have had diabetes.

Mother – Sylvia Louise [Pierpont] Russell

My mother was born on 28 June 1924 and died on 29 July 2012 at the age of 88. The cause of her death was a sudden heart attack. She had gotten out of bed early that morning, perhaps feeling unwell, and had taken the few steps to the bathroom where she succumbed. She was supposed to dine out with friends that evening and when she did not show up they drove to her house, found it locked, and called the police to break in where they discovered her. She was planning on living for several more years, but having a heart attack was not unexpected since she had had a smaller one several years earlier and was taking coumadin as a blood thinner to try and alleviate a recurrence. She had no other illnesses at the time and was otherwise healthy and very active.

Paternal Grandfather – Erskine Harold Russell

Grandpa Russell was born on 12 September 1894 and died on 23 January 1970 at the age of 75. I do not know all the circumstances of his death. However, in the journals of his step-sister, Eva [Pulver] Peet (who was nearly 78 at the time), she recorded that on January 17 he had his leg amputated and that he died from complications of that surgery six days later. It is speculation on my part, but I suspect that the amputation was quite possibly a result of diabetes and poor blood circulation that is often a consequence of it.

Paternal Grandmother – Vera Estelle [Levy] [Russell] Rogers

Nana Rogers was born on 2 June 1895 and died on 7 July 1963 at the age of only 68. She had dementia for a number of years and had been moved from one nursing home to another. When she finally passed away she was a resident at the State Hospital in Middletown, CT – having been “kicked out” of so many private nursing homes as they were unable to handle her. She would get quite violent and vocal quite often, enough so that I was often the only one who was taken to visit her when my father went so that my younger siblings would not get to upset by seeing her in the condition that she was in. In fact, at the last visit not too long after she was admitted to the hospital in Middletown, my mother even stayed in the car while only my father and myself went in.

While Alzheimer’s Disease was first described in 1906, it was not until a decade after my grandmother’s death that Congress established the National Institute on Aging to begin research on this disease. Thus, my grandmother would only have been diagnosed with dementia for which the treatment was hospitalization in a “mental institution”. The official name of the hospital in Middletown was the “Connecticut General Hospital for the Insane.”

Father – Vernon Harold Russell

My father was born on 20 November 1920 and passed away on 5 September 2006 at the age of 85. The last few days of his life he was in a hospital bed which my mother had set up in their living room. As a life-long Christian Scientist, he never went to see a doctor for anything, so there is not any official record of any diagnosis of his illness. However, it was obvious to my youngest sister who was helping with his care at the time that he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. He had been going downhill for the prior several years and when our family visited him a couple of times a year it was obvious that he was not as sharp mentally as he had been all his prior life. He would usually ask me to drive him around town so he could show me the changes in the town, but each time he would take us to the same places that we had gone the prior year. He had good days and bad days – but the last good day was the spring prior to his passing when we drove him to my brother’s house in Manchester for my niece Amy’s graduation party.

What to do with this knowledge?

Documenting the above may seem like just an exercise in investigation, but since the diseases mentioned each carry risks for successive generations, i.e. ME, what steps am I taking to evaluate my own risks? There are three different diseases mentioned above, so let me address each individually.

Heart Disease

I had a massive heart attack myself at age 56 (https://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2017/02/surviving-heart-attack.html). It was much more severe than the mild one my mother had. But where her Christian Science background led her to ignore it as much as possible (only going to the doctor when her sister, my Aunt Vi, insisted), I have annual visits to my cardiologist each year and periodic stress tests to ensure that my heart had no further damage. I take a daily low-dose aspirin as well as a pill that keeps my blood pressure from getting too high (and it continues to be quite good). I also get regular blood tests to monitor my cholesterol, etc. (which is also quite good). While one can never rule out having another one, I’m taking all the necessary steps to prevent it.

Diabetes

I’ve known other people who have lost toes or even legs due to poor circulation which is a consequence of diabetes. It’s not a pleasant experience and I want to avoid it. While I do have type-2 diabetes, I’m taking all the appropriate steps to avoid future consequences. This includes regular medical checkups, medication, and checking for blood circulation in my lower legs and feet (which is quite good). I can’t reverse the neuropathy that I have in the front half of both feet, but I take as good care of them as I can and see my podiatrist every few months.

Alzheimer’s

Following my father’s death, my sister began supporting the Alzheimer’s Association and so did I. Several months ago I became aware of a “GeneMatch” program which was looking for people to enroll in various Alzheimer’s studies. I signed up for it and took a cheek swab to look for the APOE e4 genetic marker which is one of the risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease in later life.

A few weeks ago I was invited to enroll in a program at the University of Pennsylvania (in Philadelphia) that is focusing on Alzheimer’s education and the impact of having a brain PET scan to look for higher levels of Amyloids in the brain. I’ll be participating in this study beginning in a few weeks. It will be interesting to find if I have a higher level of Amyloid in my brain. Again, this is not an indication that I have or will develop Alzheimer’s in the future, but is one of many risk factors. But combined with my family history in both my paternal grandmother and my father, it’s something that I need to consider. Stay tuned for later posting on the results.