Afternoon sunlight trickled into the dimly lit room, silhouetting Harry Brandt as he reached out to gently embrace Leona “Tudie” Brandt.

The two began to slowly dance about the room.

“It had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you,” he softly crooned to her.

Tears flooded Tudie’s eyes at her husband’s rendition of the song made popular by Frank Sinatra.

A look of confusion and frustration painted her face. There are many things Alzheimer’s disease has caused Tudie to forget. But the sound of her husband’s voice is not one of them.

Or the feel of Harry Brandt’s touch as he placed an arm around her shoulder to reassure her and brush away tears when she began to tremble and sob.

Tudie may be the one diagnosed with the disease, but she is not its only victim.

Harry’s eyes glistened with tears as he saw his wife of 56 years slipping away into a state of confusion.

It’s an understatement to say Alzheimer’s disease is destructive to a marriage. But it can also strengthen the ties, putting vows to love one another in sickness and in health to the ultimate test.

Harry is Tudie’s past, present and future.

The country was enamored by the love story of former President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy.

America may never know Harry and Tudie Brandt, or the millions of other husbands and wives who are fighting the disease hand in hand.

But that does not make their love story any less extraordinary.

You Can’t Win this Battle’

Every day, Harry Brandt leaves the Valencia Lea Park mobile home in Highland to visit his wife.

Memories of their life together surround the lay pastor from the Lutheran Church of Our Savior. He vividly remembers their journey. Tudie was diagnosed with the disease four years ago.

“But I knew that she had it before that,” said Harry, recalling that it became increasingly difficult for the former accountant to balance her checkbook, taking her up to three hours to complete it.

It is a slow, progressing disease.

Harry had to select his wife’s clothes and help her dress.

“It was 24 hours of catnapping and knowing I was not going to get more than 30 minutes of uninterrupted sleep at night,” he said.

Tudie would wake up a dozen times each night with terrible leg cramps or need to have her clothes changed because she would forget to go to the restroom.

“It was like someone going back and being a baby just backing up,” he said. “It’s not easy to see someone you love deteriorate in this way. There is no control or a way of stopping it.”

Harry did his best to care for his wife, but it took its toll on him.

In January, he was rushed to the emergency room.

“My wheels came off and I couldn’t take care of her,” he said.

He lost 30 pounds from the stress of caring for her, spent eight hours in the emergency room and three weeks in bed recovering.

It was then that the couple’s son and daughter placed Tudie at Somerford Place, an Alzheimer’s disease assisted living facility.

The experience caused Harry to start a support group at Valencia Lea Park for other caregivers to help them deal with the stress of caring for someone with the disease.

Each day, Harry comes to see his wife. He feeds her and sings to her and he does everything he can to make her comfortable.

Harry gently spoons food to her and has to remind her to chew because sometimes Tudie does not remember how to eat.

Seeing his wife suffering is like going to war, he said.

“But you can’t win this battle,” he said. “It’s just not possible today.”

“She had a wonderful heart and the fire and stamina of a tiger,” he said. “The thoughts of what she is going through now is with me every waking moment.”

And every waking moment, it seems Tudie thinks of Harry.

Minutes after Harry has taken her to her room, Tudie makes her way back to the dining room where Harry is and she walks about the room trying to find him.

She is within a few feet of him in the nearly empty room and still cannot find him until she hears his voice.

Tudie’s children and grandchildren also visit her. But Tudie recently stopped recognizing her daughter.

Her friends no longer visit.

“It’s really painful for them,” said Harry.

They still remember the woman who served as the president of the American Business Women’s Association and volunteered at St. Bernadine’s Medical Center for 20 years, he said.

Tudie listens for his voice.

“As soon as she hears my voice, she stands up in her room,” he said.

But even when Harry is not in the building, Tudie searches for him.

“She walks down the halls like she is searching for someone,” said JoAnn Gomez, resident care assistant. “She is looking for him.”

We were still dancing’

“Every day, Harry calls and asks, How’s my bride?’ ” said Heather Start, Somerford Place’s administrative services coordinator.

Harry is sentimental about his time life with Tudie.

It was in 2002 on a cruise to Alaska that Harry serenaded her with their favorite song, “After the Lovin’.”

“I knew that would be the last trip we were going to go on,” he said.

Yet Harry still sings to Tudie.

On occasion, they still dance.

It is one of the few things Tudie seems to remember.

The couple often line danced, square danced and ballroom danced.

“When she would hear the music, she would stand up to dance,” he said. “We were still dancing.”

Shortly after her arrival at Somerford Place, Tudie stood up to dance.

The couple danced five times that day.

When Harry looks at Tudie, he feels love and still sees the woman he spent his life with.

“I feel I have done a good job caring for her,” he said. “But I just know she’d take better care of me than I am of her.”

The love the two share is obvious to those around them.

“You can see the emotional feelings on both sides,” said Gomez. “Once you have that bond you never let go; it is like they say till death do us part.”

That day will be difficult for Harry.

“But I know she doesn’t want to be here she wants to be in the arms of the Lord,” he said.

“And their love remains,” Harry said.

“It’s just as pure and simple as it was the day we were married,” he said. “You still have continuity of two people who love each other. The love isn’t gone. It’s there forever.”