'Crankshaft' brings back Alzheimer's theme.One of the most engaging--and heartbreaking--storylines of recent years recently returned when the nationally syndicated comic strip comic strip, combination of cartoon with a story line, laid out in a series of pictorial panels across a page and concerning a continuous character or set of characters, whose thoughts and dialogues are indicated by means of "balloons" containing written speech. "Crankshaft" revisited a story line about a character's descent into Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (ăls`hī'mərz, ôls–), degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia. , Entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: "The Long Goodbye," the series explored character Lucy McKenzie's battle with the disease and her sister Lillian's struggle to care for her. The special 6-week series--which ran from May 26 to July 5 in more than 300 newspapers nationwide--was created by award-winning cartoonist Tom Batiuk Tom Batiuk (born 1947 in Akron, Ohio) is an American comic strip creator. His best-known comic strip is Funky Winkerbean. Batiuk attended Kent State University, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in painting. as a follow-up to an Alzheimer's story line he introduced in 1995. Batiuk said he first developed the idea after a great deal of research and suggestions from the Chicago-headquartered Alzheimer's Association The Alzheimer's Association, incorportated on April 10, 1980 as the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association, Inc., is a non-profit American voluntary health organization which focuses on care, support and research for Alzheimer's disease. , the nation's largest private funder of Alzheimer's research. The Ohio native also knew Lucy's story would not be a short or simple one to tell. "It would have to not only deal with the victim of the disease, but also with the primary caregiver and extended friends and family as well," Batiuk said. During the past several years, Batiuk and artist Chuck Ayers focused on the daily lives of the strip's other characters while the situation in the McKenzie home with Lilian and Lucy quietly deteriorated, unseen by the outside world--as it often does in real life. Sheldon Goldberg, president and chief executive officer of the Alzheimer's Association, said the organization applauds Batiuk for helping to raise public awareness of the devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. effects of Alzheimer's disease in such a poignant and unique way. |
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