KRIS KRISTOFFERSON
His Miracle Recovery
Inside his amazing recovery from an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
AFTER THREE YEARS OF BEING TREATED FOR ALZHEIMER’S, THE STAR’S LIFE TAKES A DRAMATIC TURN
Whenever he’s in Northern California, country music legend and actor Kris Kristofferson likes to drop in on Bucky Kahler. “He was here last night at my house,” Kris’ best friend since middle school recently told Closer. “He’s in great spirits. He’s entertaining a lot now.”
That’s nothing short of a miracle because three years ago, Kris was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and went on medication for the disease. He had been suffering from memory loss for more than six years, and once the diagnosis was official, Kris and his loved ones came to terms with the fact that he would slowly slip away while in the grip of the incurable disease. But in a twist no one saw coming, Kris was given his life back, thanks to a doctor’s relentless efforts to treat the star. Dr. Mark Filidei ran numerous tests on Kris and made a shocking discovery: Kris was not suffering from Alzheimer’s and had been misdiagnosed. His real problem was Lyme disease, which was mimicking some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Dr. Filidei changed Kris’ treatment — and his life. “He’s in great spirits,” Bucky says of his longtime friend. “He’s getting better and better. ”
Kris, who celebrated his 80th birthday in June, is on the road to recovery now that he knows what he is really battling. Kris didn’t question the Alzheimer’s diagnosis because he had suffered several concussions from playing football. “I played in high school and college,” Kris confides to Closer. “At the time, they didn’t know that you’re not supposed to get your head hit!”
Earlier this year, Kris began treatment for Lyme disease — a bacterial infection primarily transmitted by ticks— and there was a noticeable improvement in his short-term memory. A sparkle returned to his personality. “It’s like Lazarus coming out of the grave and being born again,” famed Nashville, Tenn., singer-songwriter Chris Gantry tells Closer. Another friend agrees. “Kris is as sharp as he’s been in the past 20 years because of his treatments,” the pal says. “His wife, Lisa, and his eight children see a different Kris now. It really is a modern-day medical miracle.”
Gantry, who has been close with Kris since they first met on the Nashville music scene in 1964, was heartbroken while his friend seemingly suffered from Alzheimer’s. “For the past six or seven years, there was this slow realization that he was becoming forgetful. It was apparent,” he says. “Kris alluded to it because he knew something was up. We all thought it was Alzheimer’s or dementia from old age.”
Kris, a Rhodes scholar, U.S. military officer, Golden Gloves boxer and Grammy winner who has also survived a 20-year battle with the bottle, accepted the Alzheimer’s diagnosis with his characteristic good humor. Memory loss “is not as unpleasant as it sounds,” he joked with Closer last year. “I love good movies. And the great thing about losing your memory is that I can go all the way back to the beginning and I’m never bored!”
Another saving grace was that although he had difficulty recalling stories about his relationships with mentors like Johnny Cash or former lovers like Janis Joplin (who had a No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts with Kris’
anthemic “Me and Bobby McGee”), Kris never forgot the two most important things in his life: his family and his music. “I can still remember my kids and my wife,” he told Closer two years ago. “And I can remember my songs.”
The star, who continued to tour despite his ailments, had been treated with medication for Alzheimer’s and fibromyalgia, but on a hunch, Dr. Filidei decided to test him for Lyme disease. At first, the test came back negative. But in February, another test showed that the singer, who hit the big time as a songwriter in 1969 when Ray Stevens recorded his song “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” indeed was suffering from Lyme disease.
Within three weeks of stopping his other prescriptions and starting treatment for Lyme, Kris felt an improvement. “He looks over at me and says, ‘Wow, I feel like I’m back,’” Lisa, his wife of 33 years, said in a recent interview. “And I looked right in his eyes, and I said, ‘Oh my God, he is back!’ ”
“[Lyme] always needs to be addressed,” Dr. Filidei tells Closer. “And you don’t find it if you don’t look.” In Kris’ case, Dr. Filidei had to look hard. “Standard Lyme testing is really lousy,” he says, offering the reason why Kris’ early tests came out negative. “I did additional testing with Kris. It turned out to be a good thing.”
“I never thought I’d live past 30. I could have ended up
dead.”
Lisa, who never accepted the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, believes Kris contracted the debilitating illness from a deer tick 10 years ago while shooting the movie Disappearances in rural Vermont. “He was on the forest floor for much of the shoot…because [his character] had been shot in the leg,” Lisa says. But even that isn’t definite. “We suspect he’s been infected with Lyme anywhere from 14 to 30 years because he used to have these chronic muscle spasms, which is a common symptom.”
As muscular symptoms worsened and were accompanied by short-term memory loss, Kris leaned harder on Lisa, his third wife and the mother of five of his eight children, for support. “Lisa has been the hand that has guided him through everything,” explains Gantry. “Kris couldn’t have navigated these waters without her.” Kris feels the same way. “I don’t miss anything,” he tells Closer. “I’ve got a wife that takes care of all the business and is very nice to me!”
BETTER DAYS
In addition to the improvement to his memory, Kris saw his muscle twitches, sleep apnea and the symptoms of fibromyalgia go away. “He really lives in the present and he feels good,” says Lisa, a former attorney who is 20 years her husband’s junior. “His physical health is incredibly good. He is continuing to do treatment as needed.”
He’s continuing to make music, too. A new live album, The Cedar Creek Sessions, which was recorded in the summer of 2014, is out now. It features a duet with Sheryl Crow on “The Loving Gift,” a song Kris wrote (and Johnny and June Carter Cash made famous). In September, he is also scheduled to begin a concert tour of Europe. “He’s eating better, he’s more alert, certainly more happy, and much more engaged these days,” says a longtime friend, who adds, “Kris still has big plans for his life.”
Those plans often revolve around Lisa and his eight children: Tracy, 54, Kris, 48 (from his marriage to his high school sweetheart), Casey, 42 (whose mom is Rita Coolidge), and Jesse, 32, Jody, 31, Johnny, 28, Kelly, 25, and Blake, 22. “All his kids have always supported him — and he has a lot of kids!” says Gantry. “They rally around him just like a real family should.”
The friends he’s known since the beginning are behind him as well. “Those bonds that were formed in the early days are as solid as a rock,” says Gantry. “We all love Kris, and we are walking the same path with him right to the end of the trail.” — Reporting by Katie Bruno