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Few things made Bonnie de Jong's family more excited than her freshly baked brownies.

She'd throw together the ingredients at the kitchen counter, operating off a recipe that existed only in her head.

It's been a while since her family has had those brownies, or her amazing buttermilk pancakes. After Bonnie was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2013 at 59, those recipes, and other memories, began to disappear.

"You can buy a mix," but it's not the same, said Stan de Jong, Bonnie's husband. "If it's in her head, we've lost those recipes."

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and causes problems with behavior, thinking and memory. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that about 30,000 Utahns ages 65 and older have this disease in 2016. Up to 5 percent of those individuals are diagnosed in their 40s or 50s, like Bonnie.

The disease, which has no cure, is expected to affect about 42,000 Utahns by 2025.

Watching a loved one battle Alzheimer's is a constant struggle for families, and association experts say navigating the holidays can be even trickier.

The most important thing is "education and information," said Ronnie Daniel, executive director of the Utah chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. "When you have a family gathering and people are not prepared or educated about the disease or what to expect ... that can be traumatic and devastating."

Stan de Jong's office at the Utah Transit Authority is splashed with family photos, his wife's smiling face featured prominently in several.

She clutches a child tight in one photo, her arm around her beloved husband in another. Looking at the photos, it's impossible to see that the nerve cells in Bonnie's brain are aggressively deteriorating.

Stan first noticed Bonnie's memory issues in 2012 as she suddenly began struggling with numbers at work. He attributed it to getting older. But a year later, Bonnie was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Her condition has been deteriorating ever since.

Loss of newly learned information is a common early sign of Alzheimer's. So is difficulty completing familiar tasks and misplacing things, according to the association.

Stan likened it to a filing cabinet with a crack in the front. New information slips through the cracks, but old memories filed in the back of the cabinet stay intact longer.

Bonnie can still remember faces and names, but she no longer drives. Operating her cellphone is virtually impossible, and she can no longer cook without Stan's help.

"Measurements, numbers, calendars — they're all meaningless to her," Stan said.

On Mother's Day last month, the couple's children and grandchildren opted for a picnic with Bonnie and Stan. On bigger holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, the kids take over meal preparation.

Daniel said that tack is the right one when a parent has Alzheimer's.

If a mother feels frustrated she can no longer prepare the meals, Daniel said, family members should include her in simpler aspects of the process.

"The best advice I can give is to have patience," Daniel said. "You want to keep them engaged in the activity [they loved] but take the pressure off by not asking them to remember how to measure things."

Bonnie stays home alone while Stan's at work, her hour-by-hour activities dictated on an agenda Stan sets on the kitchen counter before he leaves. Each day, she wears a watch that allows her to place calls to five people at the touch of a button. Stan also can access the location of that watch on his phone if Bonnie wandered off — though it hasn't happened yet.

But Stan knows Bonnie's condition will only worsen. Twice-monthly support groups have helped prepare him for the inevitable: increased disorientation, confusion and memory loss. Eventually, she may not recognize him or their kids.

Individuals with Alzheimer's live an average of four to eight years after their diagnosis, the association states. It's the fifth leading cause of death among those 65 and older in Utah, according to 2014 data from state death certificate records.

So the couple have taken trips to Italy and the Mexican Riviera while she still can remember.

Stan also is retiring at the end of this year — two years early — so he can spend time with her.

"It's getting to the point where she's OK by herself, but she's pretty happy when I'm there," Stan said.

When Vern Gillmore was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in February 2013, his first concern wasn't about himself. It was about those he would let down if he stopped volunteering.

"I thought, 'Oh my gosh, it's the end of my life, I can't volunteer anymore,' " said Vern, now 83.

Through the decades, Vern has volunteered at the Special Olympics, the Utah County Children's Justice Center and answered suicide hotline calls in the middle of the night. He even drove across the country in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy with the American Red Cross.

He's had to give a lot of that up, but he still delivers Meals on Wheels.

Vern can drive, but his 74-year-old wife, Karen Gillmore, has to tick through a checklist before he leaves the house every day. She repeatedly pauses television shows to help him understand the plot.

"My job is to be the observer and to keep him safe," Karen said.

The couple admit the initial diagnosis devastated them, but now sport an upbeat attitude about the situation.

They giggle when Vern puts the salt in the fridge. They affectionately refer to the disease as "Big Al," a worthy boxing opponent Vern battles — and defeats — daily.

It's become such a routine part of their life that Karen said she finds it hard to recall living any other way.

Their children and grandchildren also have taken the diagnosis in stride, the couple said, even though names sometimes slip Vern's mind.

They're used to answering the same question three or four times, Vern said.

Vern usually functions pretty well, Karen said, unless he's in a hectic environment. Too much stimuli make it even harder for Vern to focus.

During family gatherings and holidays when a parent has Alzheimer's, it's important not to overdo it, the association said. If that person gets overwhelmed in big groups, smaller gatherings will be better.

But the couple don't have to worry about that too much: Their children are spread out across the West and often call in to wish their parents well.

On Father's Day, "we're going to stay at home and we'll just be looking for wonderful telephone calls" from our children and grandchildren, Vern said. "They're always upbeat and patient."

Anticipating a dramatic increase by 2025 of the number of Utahns with Alzheimer's, the association teamed up with the state to raise awareness for the disease.

Last year, the Utah Legislature allocated about $160,000 so the Utah Department of Health could implement a 2012 state plan to improve detection, diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's and related dementia.

Along with raising awareness for the disease, Daniel said, the priority is to better educate health care providers.

For example, the state is having research conducted to determine why more doctors do not conduct cognitive screenings on people 65 and older.

Lynn Meinor, the department's Alzheimer's state plan specialist, said officials hope to use this research to develop statewide recommendations on appropriate screening tools.

Meinor said the department also will hold dementia training in August, and continually tries to get the word out about the need for Utahns to talk to their physicians about memory loss.

"There is a lack of understanding about the disease and how to best care for patients living with this disease," Daniel said, and the state needs to help people understand.

Twitter @alexdstuckey