Father’s Day Note From Glen Campbell’s Daughter Shows Heartbreaking Truth of Alzheimer’s
Glen Campbell's battle with Alzheimer's has been shared openly by his family. The latest — a note to the icon from his daughter, Ashley, on Father's Day — shows the heartbreaking truth of the disease as she reflects on her dad's journey and stresses the things she wishes he understood.
"Happy Fathers Day," she writes beneath a touching photo of her father's face in her hands. "On this Fathers Day I wish you could know how many people are asking about you and praying for you. I wish you could know that your new album is bringing joy to people all over the world right now. I wish you were here."
She adds, "I can hug you and hold you but I can't know for sure where you are. I love you dad. I'm here for you. Thank you for giving me everything."
Glen Campbell's Career in Pictures
Ashley gave an update on her father's condition to Rolling Stone Country recently, revealing that the country legend "doesn’t use language much anymore."
“He doesn’t really use language much anymore, but we look on the bright side [because] in these late stages of Alzheimer’s, it could be very bad,” she says. “It could be confusion and anger a lot of the time, which is the case for a lot of people I’ve seen. But for him he’s just happy every day, smiles, he enjoys life and he enjoys being around people — and he loves a good piece of cake.”
Occasionally, she'll get a glimpse of the Dad she once knew, and it brings her joy. "He knocked a piece of food off his plate and I reached to put it back, and he turns on me with the fork and goes, ‘Haha!’ It was so funny," she says. "Little glimpses of him will come back every now and then, and it just makes me so happy."
Campbell’s final studio album, Adios, was released on June 9.