Pat Summitt's Death And Early Alzheimer's

Pat Summitt's Death And Early Alzheimer's

Legendary coach's final role: fighting the brain disease

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Margaret Steele

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, June 28, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Legendary coach Pat Summitt stared down myriad challenges as she thrust women's college basketball onto the world stage. But her greatest foe wasn't on the court -- it was Alzheimer's disease.

Summitt died Tuesday at age 64, after a remarkable coaching record, winning eight NCAA titles and nearly 1,100 games with the University of Tennessee Lady Vols.

The diagnosis of Alzheimer's before her 60th birthday foretold the decline of her brilliant career and thrust Summitt into a new role: as chronicler of the ravages of this incurable brain disease.

"Since 2011, my mother has battled her toughest opponent, early onset dementia, 'Alzheimer's Type,' and she did so with bravely fierce determination just as she did with every opponent she ever faced," said her son, Tyler Summitt, the Associated Press reported.

"Even though it's incredibly difficult to come to terms that she is no longer with us, we can all find peace in knowing she no longer carries the heavy burden of this disease," he added.

Summitt, the winningest coach in Division I college basketball history, died peacefully in Knoxville due to complications from the disease, her son said.

She was 59 when she announced in 2011 that she had been diagnosed with early onset dementia. She coached one more season before retiring, and detailed her struggle with dementia in a co-written book released in March 2013.

"It's hard to pinpoint the exact day that I first noticed something wrong," Summitt wrote. "Over the course of a year, from 2010 to 2011, I began to experience a troubling series of lapses. I had to ask people to remind me of the same things, over and over. I'd ask three times in the space of an hour, 'What time is my meeting again?' -- and then be late."

In 2011, Summitt started a foundation in her name to fight Alzheimer's, and it has raised millions of dollars, according to published reports.

The overwhelming majority of the 5.4 million Americans with Alzheimer's are 65 and older. But approximately 200,000 of them are younger than 65, which is termed early onset Alzheimer's, says the Alzheimer's Association.

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