Jack Hanna's wife Suzi Hanna is opening up about her husband's diagnosis of Alzheimer's for the first time. In an interview with The Columbus Dispatch, Suzi revealed that at this point, Jack does not remember who most of his family members are.
Jack, 76, is battling an advanced stage of the debilitating condition. At this point, Suzi says that he can identify their dog, his oldest daughter and herself.
The condition also impacts Jack in other ways. For example, one day he told Suzi that he was going blind, only for his doctor to find out Jack had been forgetting he had already put contact lenses in and was wearing five in each eye. Changes to his routine are difficult for him to accept, and he and Suzi live the same version of every day over and over again.
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Suzi told the paper, "My husband is still in there somewhere. There are still those sweet, tender moments-you know, pieces of him that made me and the rest of the world fall in love with him. It's hard. Real hard some days. But he took care of me all those years, and so it's my turn to take care of him."
The Hanna family has chosen to speak with the world about the condition in the hopes that it will help another family. Jack and Suzi's daughter Hanna says, "If this helps even one other family, it's more than worth sharing dad's story. He spent a lifetime helping everyone he could. He will never know it or understand it, but he is still doing it now."
Jack was diagnosed in October 2019, and the news was difficult for him to accept. His doctor believed that symptoms began presenting in 2017. Jack reportedly said at the time, "I know my brain doesn't work so good sometimes, but I'm OK. No way I got this."
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Suzi also says that her husband asked her to promise that no one else would find out; he was worried his career would end if the public caught wind of his diagnosis.
Jack's last public performance was in March 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of more shows. He retired from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium on December 31, 2020.
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