As Alzheimer left him alone in the last days

Actor Jin Hakman was alone.

The two -time winner of the Academy Award did not call and missed the food.

Medical experts say it is possible that a 95-year-old guy who was in reducing health and suffering from the running stages of Alzheimer’s illness did not even realize that his wife died for more than 30 years in the house where he lived.

If he did it, the experts reported the BBC that he probably passed different stages of confusion and grief, trying to wake it up before the disease made him get distracted or too broken – a process that was probably repeated a few days before he also died.

Officials in New -Mexico say Betsei Arakova, 65 years old, died from a rare virus seven days before Hakman Killed on February 18 for natural reasons.

A couple – and one of them dogs – were found dead in their Santa -f home after the neighborhood safety conducted well -being and saw their bodies on the ground through the window.

At first the authorities said the gloomy opening was “Suspicious enough” to start an investigation.

Their residues were found at the advanced stages of decomposition. Arakov was found in a bathroom with scattered pills nearby. Hakman was found near the kitchen with cane and sunglasses. One of their three dogs was found dead in the box.

But the police investigation did not reveal an obscene game.

Instead, the case shed light on the gloomy realities of Alzheimer’s disease, which damages and destroys cells in the brain over time – taking memory and other important mental functions.

“It’s like he lived in the drum,” Catherine V Pirer, a worker therapist with decades of dementia experience, told the BBC about how Hakman may have experienced a repeated loss of his wife.

She noted that patients with Alzheimer’s launched disease, like an actor, live in the present and unable to look back at times or wait and act.

“I think he will try to wake her up and not succeed. But then (he) could be distracted in another room with one of the dogs or anything,” she described.

Then he later noticed his wife on the ground again and “will” again, “she said.

Although no one knows how Hakman spent his last days alive, the gloomy nature of the possibilities was discussed by the authorities and the medical observer of the district.

At a press conference last week D -R -Hiser Jarel, Chief Medical Expert in New Mexico, said Arakova died Pulmonary syndrome of gantavirus (HPS)Respiratory disease caused by the exposure of infected rodents. Hakman’s death was the result of a significant heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease as a factor that promotes.

Considering the advanced stages of Alzheimer Hakman’s illness, “it is possible that he did not know that she (his wife) died,” said D -Jarrell.

His exposure showed that he had not eaten recently, although he did not show signs of dehydration. Officials did not find evidence that he was talking to anyone after his wife’s death and could not determine if he was able to care for himself.

Ms Pirer said patients with advanced Alzheimer are unable to pick up environmental signals such as light and darkness that complicates the definition when he should eat, sleep or bathe.

“Those (signals) are often simple, no longer accessible to people at this stage,” she said.

D -R -Brendan Kelly, a neurologist who specializes in memory and cognition at the South -Western Medical Center UT, explained why Hakman also could not call the authorities for help. He said Alzheimer’s disease could leave patients who have been emotional and inability to act on it.

“A person may feel concerned or frightened, but at the same time, they may not take the action you or I tend to do to ease this anxiety or care, such as calling someone else, or going to talk to a neighbor.”

Dr. Kelly says that Alzheimer patients experience emotions such as pain and sadness, and feel physical needs, such as hunger and thirst, it is simply more difficult for them to determine what they feel.

He said no nutrition could also increase the level of confusion and agitation.

The death of the couple and the strange details of Hakman, who live in the house during the week after the passage of the wife, shocked the Santa -fi area, where the couple has lived for more than 20 years.

“It’s just absolutely devastating,” says Jefferi Gomez, a longtime city resident who remembers Hakman in his different cars, always with a smile on his face.

His partner Linda said the details call that explains that she cares about her elderly mother with dementia. “Even if you have help, it’s a lot,” she said.

“We know that Gin and his wife were very private, and she probably tried to protect him from the public,” she added, “but the idea to do it on her own? It’s a lot to the shoulder. “

Laura N Hitlin, a behavior scientist who explores ways of supporting caregivers, told the BBC that this is becoming a common problem among the caregivers.

“With the aging of the population, we also reduce the number of people in the family, the number of children or relatives living nearby,” she explained.

Ms Hitlin noted that there are fewer caregivers, there is less support for these people in making great decisions – for example, when it is time to place a loved one in the house, not to take care of them.

Jeffery Gomez said he couldn’t understand how no one had come in a couple for so long.

“It breaks my heart, it has been one for so long.”

List of organizations in the UK that offers support and information with some questions in this story is available at BBC action line.