California Man With Dementia Survives Nearly 3 Days in Mojave Desert
— -- An 86-year-old man with Alzheimer's disease told rescuers he was "doing pretty good" after spending nearly three days wandering in the Mojave Desert.
Rollande Towne had been spending a vacation with his family when he went missing, wandering away from his family's campsite early Monday morning, according to his grandson, Jared Weigand.
Weigand told ABC News that Towne didn't remember much about his ordeal outdoors. Soon after he was rescued Wednesday, Towne told ABC News Los Angeles station KABC-TV that he felt fine.
"Well, I'm doing pretty good," Towne told KABC. "I've got a few marks here and there, pretty decent actually."
According to officials, Towne's family saw him outside of their tent before he went missing.
"They woke up, they seen their grandpa outside picking up brass from spent casings, and then they went back inside, they fell back to sleep, they woke back up at 6:30 and noticed that he was gone," San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Deputy Tommy Dickey told KABC-TV.
Towne, who also has diabetes, was evacuated via helicopter after being given some oxygen and bottled water.
"As I was walking up to him I called his name, 'Ronny,' and he sat up," Steve Depue, a search-and-rescue team member with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department told KABC-TV. "It was kind of a, 'Wow! We got to get this guy some help now,'"
Towne not only survived plummeting temperatures, but wildlife as well. Officials said they saw seven dangerous rattlesnakes during their search.
Weigand said his grandfather remained hospitalized but was doing well.
"Everybody’s doing OK," said Weigand. "It’s looking good. He’s got a couple health issues."
Dr. Alan Lerner, the director for the Brain Health & Memory Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, said it's extremely common for elderly people with dementia to wander away from their families.
"We’ve seen some cases ... where the person is visiting out-of-state or friends or family ... [and] they’ve wandered off or become missing," said Lerner, who said a low percentage -- about 5 percent -- of missing seniors are found deceased.
Lerner said sometimes an elderly person with dementia will feel uncomfortable and try to leave a situation. In other cases, they are trying to go their former homes, not recalling that they are being cared for elsewhere.
