by Kimberly Williams-Paisley
I borrowed this e-book because, just before a week-long vacation trip, I found out my 88-year-old mother had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), specifically the nonfluent / agrammatic variant of the primary progressive aphasia (PPA) subtype.
Kimberly Williams-Paisley - the actress who played the bride in Father of the Bride and who is married to country music star Brad Paisley - wrote this book about her mother Linda Williams (formerly a fundraiser for actor Michael J. Fox's Foundation for Parkinson's Research - hence the forward). Linda was diagnosed with PPA (although hers was caused by Alzheimer's, not FTD) at the young age of 62. She died eleven years later, this past November 2016.
I'm still having a hard time dealing with and writing about my mother's diagnosis, so I am linking to a review by meandmybooks on LibraryThing that says a lot of what I want to say. Like that reviewer, the book title and cover photo made me hope for tips "for connecting with a loved one whose brain is deteriorating and whose communication skills/interest" are disappearing, but that did not happen. The author did, however, provide some insights on learning to accept what cannot be changed, as well as some helpful resources both in the book and on her website.
Williams-Paisley spends too much time, in my opinion, talking about herself and the effects of her mother's disease on her, and of course, as a celebrity, she also has access to services many of us could never afford. Nevertheless, this was a valuable book for me to read at this time.
© Amanda Pape - 2017
[This e-book was borrowed from and returned to a public library.]
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