A Life Stolen is the gripping account of a father and daughter’s devastating, but inspiring journey through Alzheimer’s.
A Life Stolen is the gripping account of a father and daughter’s devastating, but inspiring journey through Alzheimer’s. It’s an inside look into the day-to-day challenges facing not only the patient, but also the caregivers. For many years, her father exhibited signs of dementia, eventually becoming too significant to ignore. Everything culminated during an incident one night, after which her father was taken away, never to return to his home again. The disease changed him every day until he was a stranger. Then, it stole his life.
Through the initial days at home to hospital stays, living in a memory care unit, rehab stints and eventually hospice care, this book reveals many of the struggles encountered while facing Alzheimer’s in a world not quite ready for it. It is based on actual events depicted exactly as they happened while travelling the heartbreaking and harrowing road through this horrific illness. Its purpose is to give guidance and insight to others caring for loved ones with this terrible affliction, whether it is in providing helpful information, feelings of support or simply words of encouragement. Most importantly, the hope is that it will make the road for others an easier one to travel. May the many tears in this journey be the fortitude that helps others deal with the adversity from this overwhelming disease.
Professional Reviews
Great insight on life with Alzheimers---will tug at your heart.
Being a medical professional and having personally traveled the Alzheimer’s road with my mother-in-law and now going through some mild dementia with my dad, I can relate to much of what is said in this book and the challenges that the author went through with her dad. This book offers valuable insight to someone who is just starting down this road or is anywhere along its path. The suggestions at the end of the book are “spot on,” especially the suggestion of caring for oneself as those of us who are the primary caretakers for someone with Alzheimer’s can often succumb to chronic illnesses due to the overwhelming stress and demands that this can have on one’s life. The book is written well and at times I felt like I was watching a movie about the author’s life with her dad in his last year battling Alzheimer’s and all of the other medical challenges he had to endure. Once I started to read the book, it was hard to put down and I could have easily read it in one day if time permitted. The story is emotionally touching and the author’s obvious devotion and love for her dad is eloquently expressed throughout the book. The obvious passion the author had in writing her story to benefit others who are traveling down this road is to be commended. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone who is going through this horrific disease with a loved one.
Thank you for taking me on that journey
I'm the professional caregiver with personal experience. I'd say amen to every word in "afterword". I heard you Vanessa and will be forever grateful for sharing your story. World of dementia is dark, daunting, unpredictable and terrifying. Nothing prepares you for the next day. No warning, no clue, no hope at so many stages. We care and fight for our loved ones, praying that they'd understand our choices and decisions if they could. I cried through the whole funeral ceremony with you. Good bless you and your amazing family for all you did. Your dad would be very proud of you.
Beautiful, raw, and honest account of wonderful man's stolen life...
This is a wonderful, tender, informative, and painfully real life account of a love one going through one of life's most horrific diseases. Vanessa takes you through her journey so vividly, sharing the struggles, anguish, sorrow, and unconditional love of family torn by the devastation. In going through my own journey with my father, I learned from reading "A Life Stolen" that my fears and ignorance were normal for the caregivers. Vanessa describes the unpredictability that you face each day. As I read her book, I held my breath as she described her visits with her father and the dreaded phone calls that inevitably meant another heartache. Even though I cried and cried through each chapter, I grew to love Vanessa, her husband, her children, mother, brother, and uncles. What a wonderful, God-loving family that despite the slow painful loss of their loved one, maintained a strong family connection. The book has no happy ending but does provide the reassurance that for those of us going through the "Long Good-bye" with our loved one, we are not alone. I agree with Vanessa in that the medical and heath care and provider community need to become more informed on the consequences of medications, environment, and attitude toward patients suffering from Alzheimer. I thank Vanessa for sharing her story so honestly and completely. It is a lovely book that I would strongly recommend to everyone. Whether you are directly affected now, it is inevitable with the increased occurrence of Alzheimer's, that you will at some point in your life encounter its painful and devastating impact on a family.
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