The Little Girl in the Radiator
A Personal Study of Alzheimer's Disease
by
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Alzheimer’s disease is the only medical condition I am aware of, which tangibly affects the family of the patient, much more than it appears to affect the patient themselves. The long tentacles of Alzheimer’s colourful fantasies reach out in all directions at once, touching, clawing, caressing and embracing all who pass within their reach, until every person contacted is drawn into the labyrinth; made to participate in the drama; and become an actor in the tragedy. While all this is going on, the patient continues to move through their own little world, interacting with all of its colours, contours and characters, as though nothing had happened or changed, blissfully unaware of the emotional turmoil they are causing in the outside universe. The consultant looked across his desk at me, ignoring my mom, who was sitting next to me, apparently unaware that she was being discussed at all. “Imagine you are standing at one end of a long carpet.” He began, “the end next to you represents the present, and the other end represents your mother’s childhood. As we begin to roll up the rug the memories inside the roll are erased, lost forever, and her reality slips backwards in time. The more we roll up the rug, the further back in time she has to travel to find a point in her life she remembers.” I nodded slowly, trying to understand. My mother looked at his curtains with a disgusted, professional eye. They were tatty and frayed, probably had hung on the window for years. I knew she was thinking how she could have made a much nicer pair for him in no time at all. I was waiting for her to ask him for the job. “I want to ask your mom a few simple questions.” He said, finally looking at my mom, who smiled back at him amiably. “What year is it now, Rose?” My mother began to frown. “Now that’s a hard one.” She replied. “Let me think. Is the war still on?”
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About the Book
The story of one man's attempt to understand Alzheimer's disease as its progression slowly changed the personality of his mother. This is the hillariously funny, and often heart-breakingly sad story of a family's fight against dementia. A tale of love, joy, humanity and despair that will make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. This true story is full of wonderful characters, the Whistling Woman, who never said a word, Captain John,who thought he lived on a boat, the little man in the red bandana who had just had his brain cleaned, the Irish Band that lived in the house, and of course, the Little Girl in the Radiator, whose special secret was the key to the whole mystery. Over 25 million people in the world have dementia, and if each one has only three other family members who try to take care of them, then over 100 million people are directly or indirectly affected by a disease no-one fully understands. This book is for anyone who has an elderly relative.
About the Author
Martin Slevin is 52 and lives in Nuneaton, Central England. He works as an internet marketer and publisher, and writes in his spare time. Love Online was his first published work, and The Little Girl in the Radiator is his biography of the last five years of his mother's life as she struggled against a disease she couldn't understand. Martin hopes to bring an awareness of Alzheimer's disease to the public, with the publication of this book.