AUTHOR Vince O’Rourke, in a warts-and-all book, has revealed the pain and joy carers go through on a daily basis while caring for someone who has Alzheimer’s.
I Wish I Were A Leper – The diary of one couple’s struggle with fear, faith and Alzheimer’s is an unedited, diarised account of one man’s struggle to care for his wife as she battled the devastating effects of the disease known as “the long farewell”.
It gives a first-hand account of how a man deals with the immense responsibility of caring for his wife, from her diagnosis at only 59 until her death eight years later, while managing his own conflicting strength and fragility.
Mr O’Rourke, the first lay executive director of Brisbane Catholic Education, launched the book at Greenslopes Private Hospital on June 6 to an emotional gathering of friends, family and representatives of the Prime Minister and the major care organisations in Queensland.
He said he hoped the book would help expose the “myths” surrounding dementia and its consequences and assist other carers as they coped with their daily struggles.
The book, which has been described as a “must read” for all Australian carers, details an eight-year decent into misery for both him and his wife Margaret as, little by little, they lost the ability to communicate with each other.
It is also about his personal conflict of faith and belief in God.
Mr O’Rourke said he initially wrote the daily diary, on which the book is a reflection, as a way to deal with his own despair.
Later it became an exercise to help his children and grandchildren so they could understand what he and Margaret went through.
Supporter, friend and former pupil, ex-Wallabies rugby captain Andrew Slack introduced speakers including Alzheimer’s Australia Queensland chief executive officer Jan Samuels and treating physician Dr Sarah Bell-Allen at the launch.
There are more than 40,000 dementia sufferers in Queensland, with that number expected to grow to half million nationally within 20 years.
The book is available online at www.alz.seekbooks.com.au, at Alzheimer’s Australia bookshop or St Paul’s Book Centre for $29.95, or contact vinceorourke@hotmail.com
