For the first time since announcing his Alzheimer’s diagnosis over the summer, Capt.Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger has discussed his experience with the disease and what lies ahead.
“I’ve done harder things than this before,” Sullenberger, the retired pilot who successfully landed a commercial airliner filled with passengers on the Hudson River in 2009, told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.Sullenberger, 75, and his wife, Lorrie Sullenberger, spoke to host Robin Roberts about the diagnosis, which he revealed in a post on his website in July.
“I recently found out I have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.It is early stage,” Sullenberger wrote in the July 14 post.
“For now, this means a name may not come easily to me, I forget a story I have recently told, or I don’t sleep as well, but I am in the beginning of this long journey.”Sullenberger became a household name when he successfully landed a commercial airplane in the Hudson River, saving everyone on board, after a bird strike caused both engines to fail shortly after takeoff.The act has since been known as “The Miracle on the Hudson.” Clint Eastwood dramatized Sullenberger’s heroic exploits in the 2016 film “Sully,” starring Tom Hanks in the titular role.Roberts on Wednesday asked Sullenberger to compare his diagnosis to that heroic moment.
“We had to devise a plan, execute that plan flawlessly for the first time — never having done it before — and save every life in 208 seconds,” Sullenberger recalled.He added, “had even one person not survived, I would have considered it a tragic failure.”“So I think we’re we’re doing the same thing here,” he continued of his diagnosis.
“We’re focusing clearly on the highest priority items first, and we are ignoring everything we don’t have time to do.”Sullenberger is receiving monthly treatments for the disease, which aims to slow the condition.Both he and his wife said initially, they wanted to kee...