Darrell Royal’s Wife Announces Alzheimer’s Research Fund

By Rose Cahalan in Blog, Special on February 29, 2012 at 10:03 am | 3 Comments

Flanked by Lance Armstrong and Matthew McConaughey, Darrell K Royal’s wife, Edith Royal, announced the creation of the Darrell K Royal Research Fund for Alzheimer’s Disease. The announcement was also the first public acknowledgement of Royal’s dementia.

Both Royals appeared yesterday at a joint interim committee hearing in the Texas Senate. Edith spoke about her husband’s dementia, saying that he can remember events from years ago, but has trouble recalling recent memories.

She described the challenges of caring for a relative with Alzheimer’s, and paid tribute to families who lack the ample financial and social resources available to the Royals.

“Every day, caregivers are burning out, stressing out, suffering very serious side effects of this challenge, and do not know where to turn,” she said. “Believe me, I know and ache for many of them.”

The much-beloved former coach, 87,  spoke up only to say, “Thank you very much. I feel like I’m home.”

From left: Lance Armstrong, Edith Royal, Darrell Royal, and Matthew McConaughey. Photo by Business Wire.

Tags: alzheimer's, darrell k royal, dementia, football, fund, research