Veteran’s death raises awareness of rare disorder

By SARAH SMITHssmith@parkrapidsenterprise.com On a bitterly cold Valentine’s Day in Minnesota, Robin Howard bid farewell to the love of her life. Her husband, Mikey Howard, passed away Feb. 8 of a neurodegenerative disorder that caused him to experience dementia in his mid-40s. Symptoms of the disease began to manifest themselves after Mikey’s second deployment to Iraq in 2011. He and Robin began a nearly four-year-long battle with veterans’ service agencies, who minimized his condition as post-traumatic stress until he was diagnosed one year ago with Lewy body dementia, a somewhat rare form of a Parkinsons-type of ailment his family believes was exacerbated by desert combat. He retired from the military in July 2014. His funeral was a tribute to a man from Florida who just happened to be working at a Nevis nightspot 11 years ago when lightning struck.
Robin Alden, a local woman who acted in Hubbard theater performances, and a self-described “sweet little church girl,” was forced out of her house that night 11 years ago by her aunt, who’d moved in with her and was trying to get her niece to be more social. Her aunt wanted her to sing karaoke. Mikey Howard, who went by the childlike name everyone called him, was loading sound and electric equipment into the building. Robin thought he was “the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. He walked in and I said ‘wow!’” Her aunt knew him and a conversation started. The couple started dating and was married within months. Mikey had been in the north woods to spend time with his father, who lived in the area. The two went fishing often. Mikey’s dad died in 2005. The son performed as a singer and DJ around the area. Robin remembers Mikey taking the stage that night, singing a Vince Gill tune called “Go Rest High on that Mountain.” She was smitten. “His voice, his passion,” she recalled, her own voice trailing off. “We fell madly in love.” An Army vet, Mikey re-enlisted in the armed services in 2009 after being an infantry specialist from 1985-88. During his two tours of duty in Iraq he lived near burn pits where all sorts of toxic items were disposed of. Robin believed that this might have started his ailment, which has a heredity component to it. After he was diagnosed, he saw to it that the couple moved to Park Rapids from Texas, where Robin could receive family support. “This became his home, too,” Robin recalled. “Everybody that met him loved him, he was that beautiful.” It was fitting to her that the pastor who married the couple, Art Wood, also led the funeral services. “Mikey’s story isn’t finished,” Robin vowed. The couple had begun a campaign to get the military to treat inactive soldiers better, to work harder to diagnose and categorize the mental ailments all formerly grouped together as “post-traumatic stress disorders.” “It’s rare that a 40-year-old would have Lewy bodies,” Robin said. “In Lewy body dementia, protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells in regions of your brain involved in thinking, memory and movement (motor control),” said the Mayo Clinic. “Lewy body dementia, the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, causes a progressive decline in mental abilities,” the clinic indicated in its medical manual. “It may also cause visual hallucinations, which generally take the form of objects, people or animals that aren’t there. This can lead to unusual behavior such as having conversations with deceased loved ones. “Another indicator of Lewy body dementia may be significant fluctuations in alertness and attention, which may include daytime drowsiness or periods of staring into space. And, like Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia can result in rigid muscles, slowed movement and tremors,” the manual said. Robin remembers the day her husband told her, “My brain is just not right.” It took her time to get the soldier to go to someone, to have the disease diagnosed. “My husband was a very private person,” Robin said. “We didn’t air issues in public.” But when the couple learned his disease might be service-related, they stepped into the fight and the limelight. “Sacrifice me,” Mikey told his wife. He wanted the world to know about ailments such as his, to help returning soldiers get the help they needed and deserved. “Robin was a warrior,” said Pat Howell, Mikey’s mother. Robin went to Congress, the Pentagon and anyone who would listen. Mikey’s ailment was disguised as plain old mental illness, she maintains. But it was terminal, and he died six months after his diagnosis. An official investigation is under way, which limits Robin in the remarks she can say publicly. But her bitterness at the military, which she claims delayed treatment and a diagnosis, is there. “I want the public to know how the military treats active duty soldiers,” she said. “Once they’re injured or sick, they’re trash.” Robin kept strong through the funeral and houseful of company that came in waves. The tough guy soldier she married had a favorite color – hot pink. Family members and friends wore black and hot pink for the service, with large hot pink gerbera daisies adorning their lapels. A fellow serviceman, Kristopher Evans, read Mikey’s prepared remarks, including the advice that people should “eat a big chocolate sundae; go out and buy an ugly cat.” Evans had trouble keeping his composure describing what a great human Mikey Howard was, in combat and in life. Saturday night the family went to the American Legion Club had some drinks in Mikey’s honor – something the guest of honor specified. Maybe today is the day she’ll break down. Maybe tomorrow. But she will then pick herself up and fight on for Mikey. “His mission was to help the soldiers,” she said.By SARAH SMITHssmith@parkrapidsenterprise.comOn a bitterly cold Valentine’s Day in Minnesota, Robin Howard bid farewell to the love of her life.Her husband, Mikey Howard, passed away Feb. 8 of a neurodegenerative disorder that caused him to experience dementia in his mid-40s.Symptoms of the disease began to manifest themselves after Mikey’s second deployment to Iraq in 2011.He and Robin began a nearly four-year-long battle with veterans’ service agencies, who minimized his condition as post-traumatic stress until he was diagnosed one year ago with Lewy body dementia, a somewhat rare form of a Parkinsons-type of ailment his family believes was exacerbated by desert combat.He retired from the military in July 2014.His funeral was a tribute to a man from Florida who just happened to be working at a Nevis nightspot 11 years ago when lightning struck.
Robin Alden, a local woman who acted in Hubbard theater performances, and a self-described “sweet little church girl,” was forced out of her house that night 11 years ago by her aunt, who’d moved in with her and was trying to get her niece to be more social. Her aunt wanted her to sing karaoke.Mikey Howard, who went by the childlike name everyone called him, was loading sound and electric equipment into the building.Robin thought he was “the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. He walked in and I said ‘wow!’”Her aunt knew him and a conversation started. The couple started dating and was married within months.Mikey had been in the north woods to spend time with his father, who lived in the area. The two went fishing often. Mikey’s dad died in 2005. The son performed as a singer and DJ around the area.Robin remembers Mikey taking the stage that night, singing a Vince Gill tune called “Go Rest High on that Mountain.”She was smitten.“His voice, his passion,” she recalled, her own voice trailing off. “We fell madly in love.”An Army vet, Mikey re-enlisted in the armed services in 2009 after being an infantry specialist from 1985-88.During his two tours of duty in Iraq he lived near burn pits where all sorts of toxic items were disposed of. Robin believed that this might have started his ailment, which has a heredity component to it.After he was diagnosed, he saw to it that the couple moved to Park Rapids from Texas, where Robin could receive family support.“This became his home, too,” Robin recalled. “Everybody that met him loved him, he was that beautiful.”It was fitting to her that the pastor who married the couple, Art Wood, also led the funeral services.“Mikey’s story isn’t finished,” Robin vowed. The couple had begun a campaign to get the military to treat inactive soldiers better, to work harder to diagnose and categorize the mental ailments all formerly grouped together as “post-traumatic stress disorders.”“It’s rare that a 40-year-old would have Lewy bodies,” Robin said.“In Lewy body dementia, protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells in regions of your brain involved in thinking, memory and movement (motor control),” said the Mayo Clinic.“Lewy body dementia, the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, causes a progressive decline in mental abilities,” the clinic indicated in its medical manual.“It may also cause visual hallucinations, which generally take the form of objects, people or animals that aren’t there. This can lead to unusual behavior such as having conversations with deceased loved ones.“Another indicator of Lewy body dementia may be significant fluctuations in alertness and attention, which may include daytime drowsiness or periods of staring into space. And, like Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia can result in rigid muscles, slowed movement and tremors,” the manual said.Robin remembers the day her husband told her, “My brain is just not right.”It took her time to get the soldier to go to someone, to have the disease diagnosed.“My husband was a very private person,” Robin said. “We didn’t air issues in public.”But when the couple learned his disease might be service-related, they stepped into the fight and the limelight.“Sacrifice me,” Mikey told his wife.He wanted the world to know about ailments such as his, to help returning soldiers get the help they needed and deserved.“Robin was a warrior,” said Pat Howell, Mikey’s mother.Robin went to Congress, the Pentagon and anyone who would listen. Mikey’s ailment was disguised as plain old mental illness, she maintains. But it was terminal, and he died six months after his diagnosis.An official investigation is under way, which limits Robin in the remarks she can say publicly.But her bitterness at the military, which she claims delayed treatment and a diagnosis, is there.“I want the public to know how the military treats active duty soldiers,” she said. “Once they’re injured or sick, they’re trash.”Robin kept strong through the funeral and houseful of company that came in waves.The tough guy soldier she married had a favorite color – hot pink. Family members and friends wore black and hot pink for the service, with large hot pink gerbera daisies adorning their lapels.A fellow serviceman, Kristopher Evans, read Mikey’s prepared remarks, including the advice that people should “eat a big chocolate sundae; go out and buy an ugly cat.” Evans had trouble keeping his composure describing what a great human Mikey Howard was, in combat and in life.Saturday night the family went to the American Legion Club had some drinks in Mikey’s honor – something the guest of honor specified.Maybe today is the day she’ll break down.Maybe tomorrow.But she will then pick herself up and fight on for Mikey.“His mission was to help the soldiers,” she said.