I was shocked to see that my 74 year old father who was
separated from my mother (for 7 years) was living as a hoarder in a total
mess. My brother and I live thousands of miles away and we no idea
things were this bad. ..

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This form was submitted:  Oct 10 2007 / 17:19:15



HearAboutUs = in a Victoria British Columbia newspaper article

feedback = I was shocked to see that my 74 year old father who was
separated from my mother (for 7 years) was living as a hoarder in a total
mess. My brother and I live thousands of miles away and we no idea
things were this bad. My father was only able to get from the apartment
entrance to his bed. He had everything from the garage in the house we grew
up in (we were never able to fit a car in the garage) to junk dad was
GOING to sell at a flea market.Dad was not only living in this mess but
he hadn't shaved or showered in months. He looked worse than any
homeless person I'd ever seen.

Turns out dad was diagnosed with frontal lobe
dementia. There was no reasoning with him even though he admitted he
didn't deserve to live that way,he wasn't doing anything about it. His
single bed was on top of junk and not sitting evenly on the floor. I had
to have a city social worker and myself litrally force him out of his
apartment and into a hospital. Now, a year later he is living in a
retirement home.

Everything in that apartment had to be thrown out, it
was all very sad and very hard to see a parent living that way. My
mother passed away just over a year ago (Aug'06)though my mother had tried
for years to get my father to move to a retirement home. This way of
'living' was the result of not only his diagnosis but what happened to
my father after a failed marriage of 42 years after having someone cook,
clean, etc.. then him having to suddenly fend for himself. Depression
was the main cause of my parents failed marriage, as dad retired with
no hobbies or friends. His depression got worse as he was living the way
he was.    Thank-you for letting me share my story.