Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, August 2, 2013
www.issaquahreporter.com
On alert
SLIPPING AWAY
Neighbors want pitbull mix removed after it kills small dog
Once healthy and vibrant, 48-year-old Evan Schrier falls victim to dementia
BY LINDA BALL
BY LINDA BALL
LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
or five years Evan Schrier, now 48, and his wife, Allyson Schrier, were told Evan had ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). This misdiagnosis, and Evan’s behavior, threw the entire family into a rabbit hole they never expected.
A new retaining wall was needed at their Fall City home, and Evan showed no interest in the project. While she and the boys, with help from neighbors, shoveled heavy rock, Evan stayed inside. Allyson’s anger at his perceived laziness was building up inside. On Christmas Eve 2010, Evan’s parents flew in for the holiday from Rhode Island. “They were in denial,” Allyson said.
Tammy Hessler was walking her four-year-old toy poodle Friday night, July 26, on a leash, when a mixed breed dog, thought to be a pit bull, also on a leash but without a muzzle, lunged at the poodle, inflicting one deadly bite into the dog’s lungs and stomach. The poodle, Jackson, died from his wound said Eric Swansen, operations manager for regional animal services. Swansen said the pit bull, owned by Christina Hart, was being led by a young boy. “We are still investigating,” Swansen said. Swansen said an initial news story that appeared on KING 5 surprised him, because a report hadn’t been made. He said Hessler reported it Monday morning. “She was very distraught,” he said. Neighbor Cassandra Miles said she heard screaming when the attack occurred. “By the time I got out there the dog was dead,” Miles said of Jackson. Miles said the pit bull is usually muzzled. Miles said Hessler is very distraught, but she wishes no ill will on Hart. She said Hart is very interested in animal rescue, and has a big heart. “She (Hart) wants this dog to live, but it’s not okay for a dog to die of an inhumane act so this dog can be saved,” Miles said. It was initially reported by KING 5 that the pit bull was startled as it came face-to-face with the poodle, but Miles said the pit bull was five houses down the street when it spotted Jackson and headed for
SEE DEMENTIA, 8
SEE ATTACK, 3
F
Most people associate dementia and Alzheimer’s disease with those of very advanced age. But Evan Schrier’s story blows that theory to pieces. He has frontal temporal dementia, or Pick’s disease, one of the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed of the dementias. There is no cure. Evan was a bright, engaged software engineer with Microsoft when, in 2002, he decided to pursue his Ph.D. in computer science. He was 37 at the time. Six years into the program he was realizing that he couldn’t write a paper. He was missing deadlines on projects, which Allyson said was very uncharacteristic. He couldn’t solve problems, so he abandoned the Ph.D. program. “He was pretty freaked out,” Allyson said. “Like, why can’t I get this done?” He also had been a very engaged dad to the couple’s two sons, Ari, now 16, and Eli, 14. But he started to ignore the boys when he came home from work, preferring to play computer games instead. Gradually he lost interest in the things he loved — kayaking, rafting, backpacking — all the things he and Allyson enjoyed doing together. In 2006 a psychiatrist diagnosed Evan with ADHD. He went back to Microsoft, but six months into the job it wasn’t working because he was tasked with research and writing papers, the very same thing that forced him to drop out of the Ph.D. program at the University of Washington. Allyson said he took a year off while they experimented with different drugs for ADHD. He landed another job, which he was very excited about, with a gaming company called Sucker Punch Productions. By 2009 to 2010, Allyson began to notice social changes. Normally very social and
Allyson Schrier is taking care of her 48-year-old husband, Evan Schrier, who has frontal temporal dementia (FTD), or Pick’s disease, an often overlooked or misdiagnosed form of dementia. LINDA BALL, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
PANEL DISCUSSION Monday, Aug. 5, from 9-11 a.m. Allyson will be part of a panel at an Alzheimer’s Association Town Hall meeting on the disease at Swedish Hospital in Issaquah. KOMO news radio’s ConsumerMan Herb Weisbaum will moderate. The panel will highlight and solicit feedback on public policy initiatives, an Alzheimer’s disease plan for Washington state and more. Visit UWADRC.org to learn more. outgoing, Evan began to disengage. His friends felt he was angry with them because he was so terse. Within a year, Sucker Punch let him go, which he blamed on the ADHD medications which he said “agitated him.” Allyson said Microsoft took him back in June 2010, but within three months he was complaining that people didn’t respect him. “Things were getting really muddy at home,” she said.