Faithful As She Fades

Book excerpt: Faithful As She Fades is the first-person account of Robert Fischbach's heartbreaking journey as a caregiver to his longtime beloved wife throughout her relentless battle with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Having vowed to her that he would refrain from putting her in a facility, Bob found himself as the sole caretaker (until well into his wife's illness) of a woman with whom he had raised two children and shared a long and happy marriage. He had to watch, helpless, as FTD stole his wife's speech, personality, and essence, by degrees over a devastating eight-and-a-half-year nightmare. From growing up Jewish in New York, to meeting his Janie and raising their two sons, Fischbach takes the reader on a heartfelt, emotional, sometimes funny and always moving journey through the decades he spent with his wife--and then through the near-decade in which he slowly had to let her go. A story of devastating loss, everyday heroism, resilience and faithfulness, this book is an insider's look into one of the most terrible illnesses with which a person can be afflicted. It is also a testament to the power of love and faith.