Glen Campbell Has Moved Home, Wife Kim Admits That ‘It’s Been Challenging’
Since Glen Campbell revealed his Alzheimer's disease diagnosis in 2011, fans have received frequent updates on his health and decline from his family and friends. Now, his wife Kim has revealed that her husband has left the care facility he had been living in since the spring of 2014 and returned home -- and the transition hasn't been without its struggles.
Kim Campbell confirmed the singer's move home, telling Broadway's Electric Barnyard, "We're trying it; it's been challenging.
"He punched me in the eye, gave me a black eye -- had a black eye for two weeks," she continues. "It's really hard to cope with."
The reason that the country legend punched her, Kim Campbell explains, is because of the disease's degeneration of his brain; combative responses like that are typical of a lot of Alzheimer's patients. Campbell says that her husband generally exhibits such behavior when he's getting bathed or changed out of his clothing.
"He can be combative ... so that's an ongoing challenge," she explains, "but [we] just take it one day at a time."
The "Gentle on My Mind" hitmaker is in "late stage six out of seven stages" of the disease, according to his wife, and "his disease is marching on."
Despite the continuing breakdown of Campbell's brain, he is physically healthy and generally cheerful. He has aphasia -- the inability to communicate verbally -- and doesn't typically understand anything that anyone says to him, but a few phrases remain grounded in his brain. Kim Campbell says that her husband still says simple phrases such as "I love you" and "Where you been?"
While Kim Campbell hasn't fully explained why the family moved her husband back home, she does admit that she's his best caregiver.
"I've been married to him for 33 years, so I just intuitively know what he needs, what he's trying to communicate to me," she says. "He lives at home with us, and we just try to find joy in each day with smiles and hugs and kisses."
Campbell has previously described the Alzheimer's diagnosis as "terrifying," and though there's probably many tears and much trepidation behind the scenes, it's clear that the family is moving bravely through this tough time.
The documentary Glen Campbell ... I'll Be Me was the most-watched CNN Films broadcast in the franchise’s history, with 2.76 million viewers for its premiere. It notched a whopping 100-percent score from the film review site Rotten Tomatoes and was released on DVD and video on demand on Sept. 1.
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