BEVERLY — Last October, Laurie Bouchard asked her sister-in-law, Nancy Bouchard, to help drive her daughters around after school in exchange for dinner a couple of times a week.

But when Nancy started showing up on Tuesday thinking it was Friday, it became clear something was wrong.

"Within a week, it was very obvious she couldn't manage a schedule or a calendar," Laurie said. "Even from morning to afternoon, what day she thought it was could change. It wasn't just memory loss, but the comprehension piece was missing."

Nancy Bouchard was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and now spends four days a week at Spectrum Adult Day Health Program. But there's a difference between her and the other patients: Bouchard is only 56.

Her form of the disease, known as early-onset Alzheimer's, is more rare, and it progresses more rapidly. At Spectrum, Bouchard is considered more of a volunteer art teacher than a patient. On a recent day, she moved around the room with a paintbrush, helping patients who have dementia.

But the line between offering and receiving services is beginning to blur — and not as gradually as people would like.

"I don't feel any different," Bouchard said. She's researched the illness extensively and knows what's coming.

"One of the nice things about Nancy," Spectrum Executive Director Lisa Orgettas said, "is she's met it head on."

Early-onset Alzheimer's refers to anyone younger than 65 who demonstrates symptoms.

"There are 5.3 million people with Alzheimer's," Orgettas said. "And only half-a-million with early-onset."

More than memory loss

Bouchard was the first one to notice something was wrong.

"I'd put something down and not be able to find it," she said.

That happens to most of us at one time or another. The difference between Alzheimer's and normal memory loss is with Alzheimer's, patients become disoriented, Orgettas said. Another sign is finding things in places that don't make sense.

"With normal aging, you misplace your keys," Orgettas said. "With dementia, you find them in the freezer."

Over the last year, Laurie Bouchard has noticed her sister-in-law's progression.

"Sometimes you can tell she's having a frazzled morning," she said. "Every single cabinet and drawer in the kitchen will be open, and she can't find something. But you ask her what she's looking for, and she says, 'I don't know.'"

Laurie and her husband, Bill — Nancy Bouchard's brother — have been spending a lot more time taking care of her.

Spectrum, at the Cummings Center, is a Beverly Hospital program that provides support to people with memory disorders with the goal of helping them maintain their independence and remain in their homes for as long as possible.

Activities throughout the day range from knitting to spelling bees, and "things that will go into their minds and sort of pull out information to exercise their brains," Orgettas said.

There's also an element of community and spiritual support.

"A lot of folks feel very lonely," Orgettas said. "People feel useless. We try to provide them with a sense of purpose and belonging and contribution."

Love of art

It's about the little things. For Bouchard, that's painting.

A former Army photographer, Bouchard has always considered art important.

"It's what I love," she said. The Beverly native started painting at an early age and went to photography school in Boston before enlisting.

"One day I was down the beach, and a girlfriend of mine says, 'You're never going to believe what I just did. I joined the Army.'" Bouchard said. "And I said, 'Are you crazy?'"

But the job market was similar to what it is today, and when she found out about the free training, she decided to join. It took her around the globe, particularly to Europe, and she retired as a master sergeant in 1995.

Italy, she said, was her favorite place.

"I just fell in love with the whole package," she said, and she's gone back multiple times to paint there.

"The thing I miss the most," Bouchard said, "is I can't travel anymore."

Filling in a print of a farm in Topsfield may not be the same as overlooking the canals of Venice, but she's still glad to be painting.

"Our mission is to give people these warm, happy moments," Orgettas said. Like when It's now hanging on a wall in the center, instead of in someone else's living room.

"There was a bidding war," Orgettas said. "I won. Because I wanted it to be here with us."

Staff writer Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.