An Eight Year Goodbye: A Memoir

Samuel Valenti was an unpretentious, humble man who required very little in life to make him happy. He grew up during the Great Depression, working on the family farm in New Jersey, growing tomatoes to sell to Campbell Soup Company. Seeing the Hindenburg fly over his farm, receiving visits to the farm from his cousin, Anne Bancroft, and serving his country in World War II were a few of the highlights of his young adult life that he spoke of often. However, marrying the love of his life and having his daughter and son were the basis of what sustained him every day as he lived the American dream of working hard and prospering. Life had always been wonderful for Sam until later in his life when he started to lose his precious memories and abilities to Alzheimer's disease. His slow cognitive decline lasted for eight long years with his children by his side, helping him to navigate through the stages of the disease. An Eight-Year Goodbye is the story of Sam's journey through this debilitating illness with some helpful suggestions from the author on how to handle some of the heartbreaking challenges that Alzheimer's presents. It is also a story of love and compassion as Sam's children watch their father go from the vital, independent, vibrant man that they grew up with to the feeble, confused man who was no longer able to communicate with his family. This story will touch the heart of anyone whose loved one has experienced or is experiencing the long, slow deterioration that Alzheimer's disease brings.