Former president Ronald Reagan, secluded with wife Nancy at their Santa Barbara, Calif., ranch, is being praised for disclosing he suffers from Alzheimer's disease.
Worshipers at Reagan's church Sunday prayed for him, and messages poured in.
President Clinton, who has lost an aunt and uncle to Alzheimer's, said Sunday Reagan's disclosure was "a brave thing to do."
And Edward Truschke, head of the Alzheimer's Association, said, "Obviously when someone of his stature is willing to talk about Alzheimer's disease, it draws a lot of attention."
Alzheimer's, a progressive and irreversible brain disease with no known cure, is characterized by confusion, forgetfulness and eventually dementia.
Reagan, in a weekend public letter, was upbeat: "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. . . . For America there will always be a bright dawn ahead."
Biographer Lou Cannon said Reagan had "been aware that this is happening."
A sign something was wrong, he said, came at a symposium Oct. 12 at the Reagan Library.
Reagan, 83, sent handwritten invitations, Cannon said. "But he wasn't there. . . . Nancy Reagan represented him. . . . A lot of people thought (Alzheimer's) was the reason."
