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A family in North Dakota had been left shattered from discovering the truth that five out of six siblings tested positive for early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Robin McIntyre is one of the siblings who tested positive of the disease. She was only 29 years old when she found out about her own result and lives in Wyoming.
Now that she’s 34 years old, she had witnessed how it gradually enveloped the life of her mom, Lori, while also knowing that she’d go through the same ordeal.
McIntyre told People, “My mom and four of her other siblings have the early onset genetic mutation. Based on scientific fact and history, my chances of getting early onset Alzheimer’s just like my mom are 100 percent.”
Robin’s mom’s other siblings had either succumbed to the disease or on their way to the end. Brian and Lori passed away due to the disease at 54 and 56, respectively. Doug, 56 years old, is in a nursing home currently going through the final stages of Alzheimer’s.
Robin had to give up her dream of becoming a mother for the children that she would bear may also carry the same fate that her family and she will have. She told People, “That decision came after a lot of struggle, and heartache, and back and forth and tears. I don’t want to put a child through what my sisters and I went through.”
Robin and Jessica, her sister, didn’t tell their mom that they went to get tested for the disease. While Robin was positive, Jessica was negative. Jessica told People, “We’ve always been a close family, but the thing with this disease has made us even closer and it’s pretty cool.”
Jessica continued, “I felt guilty because I knew I wasn’t going to develop the disease. Then immediately following it I was like, ‘Well, I’m the big sister and you know the big sister pants kick in and I’m just gonna do whatever needs to be done for her.’”
Jessica, 36 years old, vowed to take care for Robin when the symptoms of the disease start to show. Their third sister, Chelsey, didn’t test positive for the disease She also gave her word that she will care for her sister as well.
Chelsey, 31 years old, told People, “When I found out that I did not carry the gene I immediately thought of Robin, you know, like she’s the only one. I see Robin going through this on a daily basis and I just admire how strong she is.”
Robin told People, “I honestly feel very fortunate to be in the situation I’m in. I’m able to make the most of a horrible situation which is also what my mom and her siblings did. They were really great role models for our generation.” She will dedicate as much as she could to the research of Alzheimer’s disease.
