Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tony’s cruel battle leaves worst scars
HOW sad to hear that legendary crooner, Tony Bennett, has Alzheimer’s disease.
He was told he had the dreaded condition in 2016, but the 94-year-old has only just shared the news, I guess because the symptoms must be worsening.
His third wife, Susan, says “there’s a lot about him” that she misses because he’s not the old Tony any more.
“But, when he sings,” she says, “he’s the old Tony.”
Let’s hope he doesn’t go around singing Patsy Cline’s Crazy all over town, like Dad did when he lived with the cruel condition in his early 60s. We were quite an attraction when I took him out for walks!
I smile now, but at the time – with a full-time, early-morning TV job to hold down, daily 3.30am alarm calls, plus two very young
sons to care for as well as both of my parents, who lived in West Wales, it was sheer hell and has left many scars. Not least the fact that when I forget something – which, let’s face it, we ALL do at stressed or busy times – I’m convinced it’s the beginning of the end of my cogent mind.
Alzheimer’s is a cruel disease, especially early onset. My mum started changing in her mid-50s and spent most of the rest of her life constantly crying because she knew she was literally losing her mind. I recall one truly awful incident in a Marks & Spencer store when she blithely started taking her clothes off and people gathered around to laugh while she cried. I have never felt so angry, so sad, so helpless.
At the time, GPS were pretty ignorant over early-onset dementia. It’s better now, but far from ideal. But knowing that cracking a cure for this cruel, vile illness is a major priority is encouraging; thankfully many studies are going on in the UK, US, Italy and other parts of the world.
For those of us who’ve seen the damage this horrible, incurable condition can wreak, a breakthrough can’t come soon enough.
With Mum’s Alzheimer’s, I’d never felt so angry and helpless