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Alzheimer’s is stealing Bruce Vincent away

While the disease has made him a diminished presence, his humor and selfless core endure

By Kay Lazar

 |  Globe Staff  

  November 13, 2011

Bruce Vincent sits at a table in a stark room at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Charlestown research center, just a few minutes into what will be an hourlong test of his fading memory. Alzheimer’s disease has recently quickened its brain-robbing pace, snatching from Vincent, still raven haired at 49, more social skills and abilities than it had since his diagnosis three years earlier. As the disease accelerates, Vincent’s family treasures all the more the bedrock pieces of his personality that remain - his optimism, his gentle nature, and especially his boyish humor.

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