A lot of you have responded to my blog post about my mother’s disease. Some of you have experienced the same thing and wanted to tell me about your own experiences and some of you wanted to reach out and let me know that you’re here for me whenever I need you. Thank you. Your support is greatly appreciated and it really does mean a lot to me. This really has been a difficult ten years for me and it truly has shaped me as a person.
I often wish that my mum didn’t have to suffer this terrible fate but that’s what was planned for her and there’s nothing I can do about it. What sometimes hurts more is seeing what my mum’s diagnosis did to my dad. For years he tried to be her carer. He didn’t want to put her in any sort of community nursing program or make her feel like we were just shipping her off to never be seen again.
He did everything that he could for mum. There’s absolutely no denying his dedication to her or his love for her. She was (and still is) his everything and he wanted nothing more than to look after her himself so that they could try and live happily ever after. To this day, I simultaneously admire him and mourn for him that the love of his life will never be the same.
My dad broke down the day he finally decided that we needed to put mum somewhere where she could get professional support coordination. Adelaide is about an hour away from where we live and the thought of her being so far away from him made him break down. He couldn’t cope without her. He needed her as much as she needed him. It was the toughest, but best, decision he ever made. It broke his heart into one million pieces though.