By Barry Vernick, February 18, 2019 — I was married 41 years when my wife, a college professor, was diagnosed with FTD. It’s like Alzheimers. The brain dies a slow death. For 3 years, I was her full time caregiver, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It was hard. She lost all functioning. A beautiful, brilliant woman had become a vegetable who needed her diaper changed.
After she died, the grief I felt was unbearable. I wanted to die. For 2 years I drank and took sleeping pills.
But slowly, ever so slowly, I began to heal.
Today, I can look back on that experience and be grateful. It was a life test. A test of my love and commitment. How many people are fortunate enough to be tested?
The darker the tunnel, the brighter the sun when you emerge.
Today, I attack life. I don’t hold back … I stay busy.
I do things no one else my age would dare do.