Posted on 06/22/2011 12:04:28 PM PDT by Justaham
NASHVILLE – Country legend Glen Campbell has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, his wife told People magazine Wednesday.
Though the "Rhinestone Cowboy" singer has suffered from minor short-term memory loss for several years, the Alzheimer's diagnosis came about six months ago, wife Kim Campbell said.
The 75-year-old has decided to give a set of farewell live performances this fall and his family wanted to go public with the news of his disease so the public would be aware of his condition.
"Glen is still an awesome guitar player and singer," his wife told People. "But if he flubs a lyric or gets confused on stage, I wouldn't want people to think, 'What's the matter with him? Is he drunk?'"
Campbell, a 2005 inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame, has recorded more than 50 albums over the past 50 years, though his biggest hits came in the 1960's and 1970's.
"I still love making music," he said. "And I still love performing for my fans."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
A couple of interesting versions of “Less of Me”.
Roger Miller:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk4bg6RBwuY
Loretta Lynn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpEOJH8m93I&NR=1
I remember the Glen Campbell Good Time Hour. Can’t believe they killed him off in True Grit.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066162/
It’s one of my favorite lesser known offbeat comedies.
As the spouse of a hubby with ALZ I cannot begin to tell you how hard this role is..there are no words.
“Like a rhinestone cowboy
Getting cards and letters from people I don’t even know”
I am so sorry. You are in my prayers.
My heart goes out to you. A beautiful late forties Lady and her husband lived next to my condo in Dalton. She was so dedicated to her declining late forties husband with Alzheimers. He was as a little boy by the time she had to have help with him. What a courageous thing it is to sacrifice oneself for a loved one. Truly, you are heroic.
The family should step in, he may not be able to realize his limits. When a person with ALZ becomes disoriented it can be very scary experience for them.
Thank you..There is a website, for anyone here who is a spouse of an ALZ victim which has a wealth of information. It is thealzheimerspouse.com. It was started by a woman whose husband has this DX as her blog and has since grown to become one of the best sites for info on the internet. ONLY SPOUSES OF ALZ VICTIMS CAN LOG IN AND POST. Others are welcome to read the site and of course there is information and resources that are of great value to anyone who is in this fight.
I would encourage everyone to at least read that site to see what we, as caregivers, and patient as well, contend with on the day to day basis.
Many caregivers die before the victim of the disease due to the stress alone. We can face financial ruin,..the biggest fight caregivers have is not to be lost to this disease too.
We lose our life to this disease..friends vanish, phone calls stop, the doctor visits etc are endless, we find ourselves behind in ordinary tasks because what once was a shared environment is now all on one person...and in the end we are going to be taking care of , to be brutally honest, very large babies as they lose the ability to even go to the bathroom, dress themselves, feed themselves, walk, etc.
Go look at the website I posted and then if you do have friends who have this affliction within their homes, don’t be one of the “friends” who moves on and is not there for support..respite time is the most valuable gift a caregiver can receive and all to often we even have to pay and pay a lot for it ( out here it is at least 22 bucks an hour) for someone to stay with a LO so we can get break.
Don’t abandon people in your live who are struggling with this disease.
Ditto. Prayers for Glen. He was always one of my favorites.
Good call! It’s an excellent CD that shows Glen is right at home with the newer stuff.
Prayers for you and your husband. My friend’s mother had ALZ and saw first hand how hard it was to take care of an ALZ patient.
What a great cd! It was produced and band-backed by Tom Petty, right?
Nobody was better at interpreting Jimmy Webb’s songs than Glen.
That is sad.
Glen Campbell was a studio musician who played on a very famous recording...”The Unicorn” from the Irish Rovers.
I am sorry to hear this. What a talented musician and singer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.