Customer Reviews

He Used to Be Somebody, 1995: A Journey into Alzheimer's Disease Through the Eyes of a Caregiver

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In a 348 page book that reads like a novel, Beverly Bigtree Murphy tells a love story-- of a lifetime of love shared in a few years with her husband, Tom Murphy, as he began his descent into Alzheimer's disease. Soon after their whirlwind romance culminated in marriage, Tom's successful career began to decline as the disease they would later come to know as Alzheimer's began it's destruction of his brillant mind and charismatic personality. Beverly soon found herself thrust into the role of caregiver for her beloved new husband, and into legal battles concerning his care, as well as going in circles in search of medical help before the diagnosis of Alzheimer's. The emotional turmoil caregivers know well is shared in Beverly's story, along with practice advice from her as a professional as well as a caregiver. Her book also incudes the stages of Alzheimer's, an annotated list of books Beverly found most helpful, and other suggested reading on grief and positive thinking as well as Alzheimer's and caregiving. Beverly's Web Site at ... offers practical suggestions to help with incontinence care and for dealing with challenging behaviors as well as information about her book. He Used to Be Somebody, is a story of unconditional love-- a love that did not end even through all the turmoil brought about by Alzheimer's, and the old love song lyrics at the beginning of each chapter are just one more evidence of this, weaving together the story of Tom and Beverly Murphy and their unending love.

This book is a heart-breaker but also a love story. My father recently died of Alzheimers. There is hope and healing when stories and pain are shared. That must have taken tremendous courage to document this downhill struggle with a seemed "unhappy" ending. God bless you.