The once-famed animal advocate Jack Hanna is fading away. His family is speaking publicly for the first time about their fight against Alzheimer's.
but now the disease has advanced to the point where he doesn't know most of his own family.
The couple of 54 years used to travel the world together, but for about two years, their life has been contained to a 30-mile radius in Northwest Montana centered around their house and 50-acre farm. This is the first time the Hanna family has spoken publicly about their struggle with a disease that afflicts an estimated 6.7 million people in the United States, according to the Alzheimer's Association. There are about 24 million people worldwide living with Alzheimer's, according to the National Institute on Aging. It is the seventh leading cause of death for adults in the U.S. and is the most common cause of dementia among people over 65, according to the NIA.
Jack is asked why he touches all the trees, but he just says he loves them and continues down the path. Scharre, a neurologist and Alzheimer’s specialist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, was kind and positive while explaining the diagnosis to Jack, Suzi, and their daughters, Julie and Suzanne.
And when they went back home that night, he made Suzi promise no one outside their family would ever find out. Jack's family and friends said there were times leading up to the diagnosis when Jack would forget what city he was in or what he was doing that day. When he would get on stage for his traveling animal shows, he would sometimes forget names and even details about the animals that were his life. Few on the planet had more passion for educating the public about the animals and taking them to their habitats through the power of his television shows.
Guy Nickerson, Jack’s longtime friend and business partner, first noticed Jack’s decline while they were producing some of the last episodes of Jack’s popular"Into the Wild" television show in the fall of 2018. On a trip in Rwanda, Nickerson explained to Jack all of the details of who they were meeting and when they were going to see the gorillas. Three minutes later, Jack asked Nickerson the questions he had already answered.
Shortly after the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Hanna quietly started making plans to retreat from public life. His last theater performance with animals on stage was in March 2020, and the COVID pandemic canceled about a half dozen more shows. He publicly announced his plan toafter 42 years in June 2020. He formally retired on Dec. 31, 2020.
Suzi and Kathaleen each take shifts comforting Jack, who manages to stay in the chair for more than two hours while his teeth are fixed.
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