Family panics after grandma with Alzheimer's goes missing — couldn't believe where they found her

With no memory to make sense of the world, an Alzheimer’s patient might feel disoriented, confused, anxious, and restless. They may wander out erratically, looking for something they can’t name, point out, or recall. This is not only dangerous for them but also worrisome for caregivers like David Thompson (@davethompsonMD), whose mother-in-law suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Writing on X, Thompson shared an episode in which his mother-in-law wandered out without their knowledge and they were stunned the circumstances in which they eventually found her.

Thompson, a doctor from Seattle, left the house with his wife and kids to take the kids to urgent care for an ear infection. His wife’s parents were alone in their Airbnb apartment. While his father-in-law fell asleep, the mother-in-law wandered out of the house. “We rushed back as soon as we heard she was missing. It was dark and raining steadily. Her coat was still on the rack. Her wallet is still on the table. I ran up and down the block asking neighbors if they had seen her. We got in our cars and combed the entire neighborhood. No luck,” Thompson continued in the following tweet.

The family looked everywhere to find the Alzheimer’s patient. At first, they checked inside a shopping center, hoping she was attracted to the bright lights. He rushed to the entrance of a grocery store and was amazed to see her through the window inside a coffee shop, sitting across from two strangers. As it turned out, the couple sitting with his mother-in-law had noticed her in the parking lot looking confused, so they guided her into the store. "I found them sipping tea and talking cheerfully. I told the woman who I was and thanked her for watching over my mother-in-law," Thompson elaborated.

The kind couple helped his mother-in-law buy bread and cookies since she was not carrying any money at the time. They sat with her at the table while the store’s employees scrambled to locate her family members. Extending their gesture of generosity, the strangers didn’t let Thompson pay them back for the groceries or tea. "They were exactly the people you would hope to find in this situation," Thompson wrote in the caption.

The heart-melting story left more than 7 million people weeping tears of happiness and empathy. “My wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last month. This had me weeping,” said @markblei. @thedesertginger called the incident “heartwarming” and shared a similar experience from their life. “A similar event happened with my mom [with] dementia. She somehow drove herself to the grocery store. But she didn't know how to get back. A sweet woman noticed her and drove my mom’s car back to her place. She even took her inside. Thankful for good people!”

The comments section rumbled with the stories of other people who experienced the frantic frenzy of having a family member with dementia wander out of the house. Others shared hacks to protect the patient from wandering away. “Hanging a blanket or a roll-up blind over a door can help prevent 'patients' from going out the door,” said @densin15. @rivercanal17304 shared, “24/7 caretaker for my mother with dementia. I have motion sensors and alarms on everything! She wanders so have every exit point (windows also) wired for alarms. Has helped big time!”