Heart & Soul: A heartbroken daughter remembers how her father was, before Alzheimer’s

Photo: TNS

I’ve watched many movies and absent-mindedly flipped through the pages of stories which revolved around Alzheimer’s – until my Appa got diagnosed. That’s when it actually hit me like a bullet, and the reality and cruelty of it started to dawn on me.

It started early for him due to brain surgery, back in 1999, when I was little. First, it was the keys that he forgot; then memories of where he parked his car slipped his mind; later he started forgetting his friends, our names, important dates – and it only got worse. We used to laugh it off, like when he placed the dishes in the washing machine instead of the sink. It used to be funny until we realised there’s no turning back.