If you'd told Donna M. Hayes that one day she would drug and kidnap her mother, she wouldn't have dignified you with a response. And yet, when faced with an insidious enemy-Alzheimer's-which has set up camp in her mother's mind, Donna and her brother do just that.

Over the eight years that Donna serves as her mother's caregiver and advocate, she is forced to battle through numerous conflicts on various fronts-including fighting for her own mental and emotional health, her marriage, and her faith in God.

In "Reflections," Donna offers a candid account of what life is like for the...