Kathie Lee Gifford's father had Lewy Body Dementia

[Guest guest]

his was hard to read. My dad always asked me what was wrong with him, as if

I was his Oracle. He also said not to live him alone with the caregivers. He

died alone anyway. So sad.

Josie

[Guest guest]

If anyone watched Larry King Live the other night you would have heard

Kathie Lee Gifford speak very emotionally on the subject of Lewy Body

Dementia which her father had. Below is the transcript of that portion of

the program from the Larry King Live website.

Lewy Body Dementia is one of the sister diseases of Multiple System Atrophy.

There are several people in this group whose loved one was thought to have

MSA while living but the autopsy revealed Lewy Body Dementia.

Take care,

Pam

----------------------------

KING: Mount Pleasant, Iowa, hello.

CALLER: Hello.

GIFFORD: Hello.

CALLER: , you are so beautiful and I miss seeing you on live. My

question is, I know how much you loved your daddy and how special he was. I

have that same relationship with my father and it is just so special. You

can't describe it.

GIFFORD: Okay, now you're getting to me.

CALLER: My father-in-law has Lewy Body Disease and we are going through the

last stages of Lewy Body and Parkinson's with him as well. And we're

struggling to get through it and I wanted to know what got you through the

end times? And the song that you wrote...

KING: What is Lewy Body?

GIFFORD: It's terrible.

CALLER: The song that you wrote for your daddy? " I Love You Daddy "

GIFFORD: " Good Bye Lullaby "

CALLER: " Good Bye Lullaby. " Is that going to be published?

GIFFORD: Yes. Right after I released " Gentle Grace " album. I have an album

that I kept it on my shelf for over a year, because I was -- it was ready to

go and then my daddy was in his last stages. And I feel for you. God bless

you.

KING: How old was he?

GIFFORD: He was 78. But he had been sick for seven years.

KING: What is that disease?

GIFFORD: There's my daddy on the last day of my show. You can see that

already he's ravaged.

KING: What happens with the disease?

GIFFORD: It's usually -- at the beginning people think it's Alzheimer's,

because it has many of the same symptoms. But the difference is, Lewy

Body -- Alzheimer's as we know it, President Reagan being is 93 tomorrow,

Alzheimer's can go on many, many years. Lewy Bodies Dementia really has a

seven-year time period from the first onset of symptoms to the very end. And

what happens is your brain dies. You can have the most vital, healthiest

body in the world, but the brain stops sending the right signals.

KING: Unlike Alzheimer's you die of Lewy...

GIFFORD: You die of Lewy Bodies.

KING: I mean, you can live a long time...

GIFFORD: You live a long time with Alzheimer's. The good news about it is

you do know it's coming and you do say everything to your loved one.

KING: You don't forget?

GIFFORD: No, oh, my father knew until the very end. And one day my sister

said to him -- this is a hard story tell, and this is the song you're

talking about called " Good-bye Lullaby, " when all of a sudden you switch

places and you're the one taking care of the parent and everything that the

parent once did for you you're now doing for them.

My sister told me the story of going in and talking to my daddy one night

and he didn't want the lights turned off and he was fearful and she was

tucking him in and she was singing to him and she was calming his fears. And

she said, " daddy, do you know what's happening, do you know something's

wrong? "

And he goes " yes, I know. " Because by then his speech was quite bad.

And she goes, " Do you know what it is, daddy? "

And he said, " my brain is dying. "

And it was awful, and she says, but, " are you OK, daddy? Are you OK? "

And he goes, " yes, just don't leave me alone. " And we never did.

KING: Is there pain involved in his death?

GIFFORD: For us.

KING: I mean physical pain?

GIFFORD: I don't think so, because the brain stops sending that signal as

well. I'm sorry.

KING: Let me take a break. We'll be right back with Kathie Lee Gifford.

Don't go away.

_____________________________________________

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars,

or sailed to uncharted land,

or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

- Helen Keller

[Guest guest]

Thanks for this Pam.

Courage

Kathie Lee Gifford's father had Lewy Body Dementia

>If anyone watched Larry King Live the other night you would have heard

>Kathie Lee Gifford speak very emotionally on the subject of Lewy Body

>Dementia which her father had. Below is the transcript of that portion of

>the program from the Larry King Live website.

>

>Lewy Body Dementia is one of the sister diseases of Multiple System

Atrophy.

>There are several people in this group whose loved one was thought to have

>MSA while living but the autopsy revealed Lewy Body Dementia.

>

>Take care,

>Pam

>----------------------------

>

>

>KING: Mount Pleasant, Iowa, hello.

>

>CALLER: Hello.

>

>GIFFORD: Hello.

>

>CALLER: , you are so beautiful and I miss seeing you on live. My

>question is, I know how much you loved your daddy and how special he was. I

>have that same relationship with my father and it is just so special. You

>can't describe it.

>

>GIFFORD: Okay, now you're getting to me.

>

>CALLER: My father-in-law has Lewy Body Disease and we are going through the

>last stages of Lewy Body and Parkinson's with him as well. And we're

>struggling to get through it and I wanted to know what got you through the

>end times? And the song that you wrote...

>

>KING: What is Lewy Body?

>

>GIFFORD: It's terrible.

>

>CALLER: The song that you wrote for your daddy? " I Love You Daddy "

>

>GIFFORD: " Good Bye Lullaby "

>

>CALLER: " Good Bye Lullaby. " Is that going to be published?

>

>GIFFORD: Yes. Right after I released " Gentle Grace " album. I have an album

>that I kept it on my shelf for over a year, because I was -- it was ready

to

>go and then my daddy was in his last stages. And I feel for you. God bless

>you.

>

>KING: How old was he?

>

>GIFFORD: He was 78. But he had been sick for seven years.

>

>KING: What is that disease?

>

>GIFFORD: There's my daddy on the last day of my show. You can see that

>already he's ravaged.

>

>KING: What happens with the disease?

>

>GIFFORD: It's usually -- at the beginning people think it's Alzheimer's,

>because it has many of the same symptoms. But the difference is, Lewy

>Body -- Alzheimer's as we know it, President Reagan being is 93 tomorrow,

>Alzheimer's can go on many, many years. Lewy Bodies Dementia really has a

>seven-year time period from the first onset of symptoms to the very end.

And

>what happens is your brain dies. You can have the most vital, healthiest

>body in the world, but the brain stops sending the right signals.

>

>KING: Unlike Alzheimer's you die of Lewy...

>

>GIFFORD: You die of Lewy Bodies.

>

>KING: I mean, you can live a long time...

>

>GIFFORD: You live a long time with Alzheimer's. The good news about it is

>you do know it's coming and you do say everything to your loved one.

>

>KING: You don't forget?

>

>GIFFORD: No, oh, my father knew until the very end. And one day my sister

>said to him -- this is a hard story tell, and this is the song you're

>talking about called " Good-bye Lullaby, " when all of a sudden you switch

>places and you're the one taking care of the parent and everything that the

>parent once did for you you're now doing for them.

>

>My sister told me the story of going in and talking to my daddy one night

>and he didn't want the lights turned off and he was fearful and she was

>tucking him in and she was singing to him and she was calming his fears.

And

>she said, " daddy, do you know what's happening, do you know something's

>wrong? "

>

>And he goes " yes, I know. " Because by then his speech was quite bad.

>

>And she goes, " Do you know what it is, daddy? "

>

>And he said, " my brain is dying. "

>

>And it was awful, and she says, but, " are you OK, daddy? Are you OK? "

>

>And he goes, " yes, just don't leave me alone. " And we never did.

>

>KING: Is there pain involved in his death?

>

>GIFFORD: For us.

>

>KING: I mean physical pain?

>

>GIFFORD: I don't think so, because the brain stops sending that signal as

>well. I'm sorry.

>

>KING: Let me take a break. We'll be right back with Kathie Lee Gifford.

>Don't go away.

>

>_____________________________________________

>

>No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars,

> or sailed to uncharted land,

> or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

> - Helen Keller

>

>

>

>