Paul Craig looks lovingly at the newborn he’s cuddling tightly against his chest.
Rocking back and forth, he painstakingly fiddles with the corners of a soft fleece blanket, making sure the baby is adequately swaddled. He leans over and affectionately whispers in the baby’s ear, obviously enjoying the bonding.
What’s not obvious, at first, is that the “baby” is actually a handmade, life-like doll. It’s part of a “cuddle program” for patients at the Lantern Alzheimer’s Center in Hixson, a division of Morning Pointe Senior Living.
Paul Craig’s daughter, Mary Craig Coleman, says she believes her father sees the doll, Lane, as his biological child or grandchild.Craig, 94, a retired research chemist who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2009, has always been a hugger, says his daughter, Mary Craig Coleman, of Chattanooga. Before Alzheimer’s took a toll on his memory, he loved holding and cuddling his now 4-year-old twin great-grandchildren. And though he still recognizes Coleman as someone he knows, he must be reminded that she is his daughter. She believes he sees the doll as his biological child or grandchild.
The cuddle program is giving her father “purpose,” she says, noting that he was always busy mentally and physically in his work and at home. He has numerous patents — including a medicine for cancer used to treat his late wife — and he was an avid painter and crossword puzzle enthusiast. In the last couple years, though, Alzheimer’s has robbed him of those pleasures.