My Dad and Al

Charlies dad has been told that he has Alzheimers disease a kind of dementia. Dad has to explain what this means to help prepare Charlie for what might happen. To help themselves deal with this the family think of the Alzheimers as an unwanted guest in their home and they call him Al short for Alzheimers. Dads dementia means that he might say or do strange things but thinking of Al as a person means the family can blame him rather than Dad. They even laugh at some of the things Al makes Dad do. The family know that Al wont go away and they pull together to support one another as Dads condition gets worse. They know that Dad cant always help what he says or does but whatever happens even when he can no longer tell them he still loves them from the ends of the earth and back. This is Charlies story.