Seth and Cathy Zarkin

As many of you know, Seth Zarkin was a loyal and longtime employee of Weiden and

Kennedy in New York. In September of 2016, Seth lost his job and 3 months later, Cathy

lost her job after working at ABC/Disney for over 40 years. During their respective job searches in 2017, Cathy noticed that Seth seemed unable to complete simple tasks and seemed to be a bit confused and forgetful. Their internist directed them to see a neurologist and after months of intensive testing, it was determined that Seth had early-onset Alzheimers at age 56.

Seth had pretty much been staying the course during the first 5 years of the disease as Cathy returned to work.

All of that changed in July 2022, when Cathy thought that Seth was having a stroke.

He was hospitalized for 12 days with a viral/bacterial infection that wreaked havoc on him, physically and cognitively. He spent the next two months in rehab, learning to walk and talk again. Obviously, his baseline had changed, but he was still able to do things independently, with the supervision of an aide during the week.

Fast forward to May of 2023. Seth and Cathy finally got to go on their dream trip to Ireland, which was first delayed in 2020 due to the pandemic, and delayed again in 2022, due to Seth's rehab. Three days into their trip, Seth came down with Covid, and spent 12 days in a hospital in Limerick, and returned to New York and spent another month in rehab. This time, his baseline had taken quite a dramatic downturn and Cathy was forced to resign from her job to become his full-time caregiver. He is receiving therapies at home, and every day presents a new challenge.

Overall, he remains in good spirits and has maintained his sense of humor throughout this latest ordeal. We are not sure where he will land, but he is giving it his all.

As you can imagine, this has placed quite a financial strain on them, with the loss of Cathy's salary, medical insurance, uncovered medical bills and home healthcare, as this devastating disease continues its inevitable progress.

We ask that you keep Seth and Cathy in your prayers, and contribute whatever you can to ease their growing financial burden.