A Path Revealed: How Hope, Love and Joy Found Us Deep in a Maze Called Alzheimer's

by Carlen Maddux

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Author: Carlen Maddux

Publisher: Paraclete Press

Paperback:
ISBN 10: 1612617840
ISBN 13: 978-1612617848

A Path Revealed is the story about a young family's sudden shift from a comfortable, middle-class American life into an alien world shaped and defined by Alzheimer's disease. Just days after turning 50, Martha Maddux was hit with this diagnosis. The news devastated her and husband Carlen.

But this is not a story about hopelessness. Rather, this story traces a path that emerged during their family's darkest hours, a path they did not foresee. Encouraged by a friend and Presbyterian minister, just after the diagnosis, Martha and Carlen drove from their home in Florida to visit a Catholic nun in Kentucky. This path first appeared among the hills and back roads there.

"As we were drawn into this twisting journey," says Carlen, "I scrambled for answers. I devoured scores of books, began writing what evolved into a 14-volume journal, flew halfway around the world to Australia, spent scores of weekends at a nearby monastery, and found myself all alone one week in Thomas Merton's cabin."

A Path Revealed is not an Alzheimer's guidebook or a self-help book. Plenty of those exist, many with good practical advice. Only a few books, though, explore the painful spiritual and emotional issues that are sure to surface with a crisis like Alzheimer's.

Martha and Carlen were forced to face the fallout from their own crisis. You or a loved one may be staring at a different crisis--cancer, stroke, job loss, diabetes, heart attack, home foreclosure, you name it. Regardless of the crisis, the potential for emotional and psychological upheaval--alienation, depression, fear, guilt, anxiety attacks, a cold numbness--is much the same for victim and family alike, for care-receiver and caregiver.

"Alzheimer's happens to be the context of our story, not its focus," says Carlen. "Our story's focus is the spiritual path that emerged out of a threatening darkness."

Review

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"Carlen Maddux and his wife Martha visited with me for a week's retreat shortly after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The story Carlen tells is an amazing journey. Gerald May's reflection on willingness vs. willfulness in Will and Spirit: A Contemplative Psychology provided the core, anchoring this step-by-step journey. It would require that Carlen be willing to risk, to set aside the blocks of disbelief and distrust, to open his mind and heart to possibilities he'd never have imagined. From beginning to end, willingness was at the center, a willingness grounded in trust. Carlen is a good, clear writer. His choice of words is precise, his images effective. Everything about this story rings true, authentic, intimate, and experiential."

--Sr. Elaine M. Prevallet SL, retreat director with the Sisters of Loretto in Kentucky and author of three books, including Making the Shift: Seeing Faith Through a New Lens. She has written several journal articles and pamphlets, including Reflections on Simplicity.

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"This book belongs on the nightstand of every family coping with a crisis."

--Dr. Landy Anderton, Clinical Psychologist, Raleigh, North Carolina.

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"The reader who travels with Carlen into the mysterious depths of human life, human tragedy, and human relationships will be led to reflect, to ponder, and to expand. "Carlen is a strong writer. One of his strengths is that, as he tells this story, his words invite us into conversation. His style invites dialogue between reader and author. Carlen does not seek to convince others of anything,certainly not anything that could be called 'religious.' Rather, he invites us to share--to share his journey, to share his discovery of how his search led his mind and soul beyond problem-solving into acceptance, peace, and gratitude."

--Rev. Dr. Arthur Ross III, former chair of Union Presbyterian Seminary board of trustees and pastor emeritus at White Memorial Presbyterian, Raleigh, NC.

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"A moving account of one man's journey from a conventional faith to a stunningly real relationship with God,this spiritual memoir will linger in your imagination long after you have finished reading it. It describes the author's path through the desert of his beloved wife's slow descent into Alzheimer's disease for more than sixteen years. A Path Revealed is an intimate meditation on how one man was shown how to love and trust God in the midst of devastating loss."

--Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger, Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary professor of Pastoral Theology. Recognized nationally for her unique approach to ministries of care, Dr. Hunsinger combines Christian spirituality and theology with the tools of psychology and conflict resolution. Author and/or editor of five major publications, her most recent book, Bearing the Unbearable: Trauma, Gospel and Pastoral Care, was awarded the 2015 Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy.

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"Carlen is a wonderful guide through a torturous and ultimately rewarding spiritual journey. Seeking healing for his wife, he discovers growth and healing for himself."

--Rick Hamlin, Executive Editor, Guideposts Magazine

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"This book is a solid core of hope within a tale of seeming woe. Almost everyone knows someone who suffers from Alzheimer's, or who loves someone who suffers from Alzheimer's. Carlen Maddux spent nearly 17 years in that chronic crucible of one step forward, three steps back. He's come through it--and without letting his true love go. How was this possible? What enabled Carlen to love "when the deal goes down" (Bob Dylan)? Carlen's odyssey is a trip that one man has made. Yet without knowing it, he has made it for us all. It's an emotional journey, a geographical journey, a medical journey, and a spiritual journey."

--The Rev. Dr. Paul F.M. Zahl, Episcopal minister, is author or co-author of ten books, including PZ's Panopticon and Grace in Practice, and producer of the popular PZ's Podcasts at mbird.com/tag/pzs-podcast/.

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"Scripture tells us that hope does not disappoint because of the love of God. Carlen Maddux's compelling book, A Path Revealed, reaches out beyond crisis to the unbounded hope, love and joy of the Lord. It does not disappoint. Maddux's fine work connects the dots of a spiritual journey, and inspires us to reach higher."

--Greg O'Brien, diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, is author of the award-winning book On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's--a riveting, first-person account. He serves on the Alzheimer's Association Advisory Group for Early Onset Alzheimer's, and is an advocate for the Cure Alzheimer's Fund of Boston and the Washington, DC-based UsAgainstAlzheimer's. O'Brien's newspaper and magazine career spans 35 years as a writer, editor, investigative reporter,and publisher.

From the Author

I'm writing a blog as a way of presenting takeaways from my book, A Path Revealed: How Hope, Love and Joy Found Us Deep in a Maze Called Alzheimer's.

Both my book and blog point to the emotional and spiritual issues that are certain to arise from a serious crisis. Our family had to deal with these issues within the context of Alzheimer's. Others may be confronting them because of another kind of crisis, such as health, financial, or fractured relationships.

Consider this a personal invitation to join our conversation. The blog is free. You may sign up at carlenmaddux.com.

From the Back Cover

Just days after turning 50, Martha Maddux, a spirited mother and civic activist, is told she has Alzheimer's disease. She and husband Carlen feel as though they've been shoved out of a plane 10,000 feet up, with nothing to grab but themselves. But A Path Revealed is not about the fallout from an insidious disease that extended nearly 17 years. It is in Carlen's words, "The story of a path emerging during our darkest hours, a path that we neither planned nor foresaw."

Carlen traveled with Martha to the backwoods of Kentucky, where the quiet presence of a nun revealed a hidden path. He was forced to slow down as he traced this path halfway around the world to Australia, retreated weekends to a monastery, embraced meditation, and landed all alone in Thomas Merton's cabin.

A Path Revealed echoes accents heard in Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies, Richard Rohr's Falling Upward, and John Bunyan's 17th century classic, The Pilgrim's Progress.

About the Author

First-time author and career journalist, Carlen Maddux describes in vivid imagery the journey he and wife Martha traveled the last 17 years of their life together. Martha was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1997, just days after turning 50. Carlen's first journalism job was with the nationally acclaimed St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times). In 1984, he launched, edited, and published a regional business magazine for the rapidly growing Tampa Bay, FL, market--the Maddux Report. He closed it 26 years later in 2010.

In 1963, Carlen attended Georgia Tech on a full football scholarship. He earned an MBA degree in 1970 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he played on UNC's rugby club. Martha graduated from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta in 1969. She also attended UNC, earning a Master of Arts in Teaching History in 1970. While in Atlanta, Martha dated Carlen's roommate at Tech, who subsequently married Martha's apartment mate at UNC. Weird, right?

Martha and Carlen married in 1972, and set out to be wannabe hippies, spending their honeymoon wandering through Mexico before taking jobs in Santa Fe, NM, then moving to Lafayette, LA, where he taught a year in college, then back to Santa Fe to help a friend launch the alternative weekly Santa Fe Reporter, which, believe it or not, is still kicking.

In 1975, the wandering couple returned to Martha's hometown of St. Petersburg, FL, when she was pregnant with their firstborn. Their children are David, 41, Rachel, 39, and Kathryn, 35. Martha was a civic activist, successfully managing several local political campaigns before serving six years on the St. Petersburg City Council in the 1980s and chairing the county's Juvenile Welfare Board.

Carlen's blog can be found at carlenmaddux.com.

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A Path Revealed: How Hope, Love and Joy Found Us Deep in a Maze Called Alzheimer's