Ritter Says Forgetting Names Was First Sign of Trouble

Bill Ritter says his first clue that something was wrong was forgetting names and places. Days after revealing on-air that he has early-stage Alzheimer's and is retiring from ABC7 New York's anchor desk, the 76-year-old appeared on Good Morning America on Monday to describe how the trouble started about two years ago. He said he brushed off his growing memory lapses as work exhaustion, even cutting back his schedule and finally getting a good night's sleep "for the first time in 25 years," but things did not improve, People reports. he said. That's when he decided to get tested.

Ritter said his initial reaction to the diagnosis was thinking of his father, who died with Alzheimer's in 1998, followed quickly by fear and concern for his wife and children. "As a dad and a husband, I said, 'I gotta deal with this. This is my family. And that's what I'm really worried about,'" he said, per Page Six. His family, he said, tell him he's brave, but his wife and kids "are the real tough ones." He urged others to get tested if they have concerns. "A lot of people say, 'I'm fine, don't worry about it, I'm going to be fine.' No. You gotta go do this," he said.

Now off the 6pm desk, he plans to stay with ABC7 in a new role focused on coverage and awareness of Alzheimer's. "After this interview, I'm going to go to our Monday morning meeting at 9am," he told Good Morning America, "and then I'm going to go to my desk and have day one of the new job," Ritter said. "And that will be to bring people into the tent, because I think that's what we want." He said there was a huge outpouring of "love and support" after his broadcast Friday. "This disease, obviously, doesn't care what your politics are because we're all in this together," he said.