My heart lurched when I learned that Ted Turner, CNN founder, media mogul and philanthropist, died May 6 at age 87 after a years-long battle with Lewy body dementia. And for two reasons.

One was that I immediately conjured up meeting Turner in mid-1980s Moscow. We shook hands and I told him that I was a journalist with UPI (United Press International) and that my companion was with the AP (Associated Press).

He roared with laughter and joked loudly: "Oh, UP, AP, I pee, we all pee!” Yep, not hard to see why he was called the “Mouth of the South.”

The deeper reason was a wrenching synchronicity: My late husband, Dusko Doder, a renowned Washington Post journalist, also died at age 87, also after a protracted struggle with LBD, as Lewy body dementia is known. 

Ted Turner's death draws much-needed attention to LBD horrors ‒ and caregivers

The attention Turner’s death is drawing to LBD is much needed. It is the second most common dementia in the United States after Alzheimer’s disease, affecting about 1.4 million people. The number could be higher.

LBD is often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s because it shares such symptoms as memory loss, confusion, muscle stiffness and hallucinations. Actor Robin........

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