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Watch now: Former Illinois State football coach Denver Johnson deals with loss of wife

From left, Kelsey, Taylor, Denver and Danita Johnson pose for a family picture.

Illinois State's head football coach Denver Johnson walks on the field during the Red and White Scrimmage in August 2008 at Hancock Stadium in Normal.

“We would send 300 to 400 Christmas cards and over 200 of them she would address from memory,” said her husband and former Illinois State football coach Denver Johnson. “It was incredible.”

That memory slowly slipping away was one agonizing component of Danita’s long and torturous battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.