Viewpoint by Mona Lisa Tucker/south news editor

Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that can put stress and strain on every aspect of adult relationships.

According to alz.org, 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, and 80 percent of people with the disease are cared for at home by family members.

Recently, Pat Robertson, chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, said a person shouldn’t feel guilty if he/she divorced someone with Alzheimer’s because it’s “a kind of death.”

“I’m just flabbergasted,” said Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church in Orlando, Fla. “I just don’t know how anyone who is reading scripture or is even familiar with the traditional wedding vows can come out with a statement like that.

“Obviously, we can all rationalize the legitimacy for our own comfort that would somehow make it OK to divorce our spouse if circumstances become very different or inconvenient. That’s almost universal, but there’s just no way you can get out of what Jesus says about marriage.”

My husband Frank and I are also Christians. Although he is much older than I, he has given his family an abundance of love, joy and wisdom.

Furthermore, he cooked, cleaned and changed as many diapers as I did. He has treated me with utmost respect and been by my side for more than 25 years.

Therefore, if he contracted any disease, I wouldn’t think of leaving him, and I am confident he wouldn’t leave me.

No, there is no lump sum of money waiting when death does come. However, his legacy is that of a faithful husband and father.

Several years ago, a former neighbor’s husband suddenly became ill, which forced him to stop working.

Although she needed to keep working, she tirelessly took care of her husband. She is also a church mother, so she would take time to clean and dress him for weekly services.

Before the end, he could no longer walk or do much for himself, but she refused to put him in a nursing home.

Early one morning, the sound of sirens consumed our street, but it was too late. Her husband had passed. When she came down to talk with me, I saw tremendous pain, yet relief in her eyes because it was heart-wrenching for her to watch the once-vibrant man slowly deteriorate.

After the tears flowed and her conversation ended, I said, “You are a true example of what ‘till death do us part’ really means.”