Man battling Alzheimer’s makes emotional plea on Facebook for friends and family to visit him
'I wish they’d come visit. I’d love it if they came over for a while and we could talk about what’s really happening behind the scenes,' Alan Beamer says
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Your support makes all the difference.A man battling Alzheimer’s has made an emotional video plea asking for his family and friends to visit him.
Thousands of people have watched the footage posted to Facebook by Alan Beamer, from Michigan, US, in which he explains how the disease affects him.
In the video, filmed by wife Mary Beth, he describes the disease as “one of the meanest things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Posted by MaryBeth Alan Beamer on Sunday, 3 January 2016
When asked “what do you want from your family and friends”, Mr Beamer replies: “I want them to know that I’m the same old person, and I wish that all my friends could just come up and talk to me, just like they did before.”
Mr Beamer, who appears visibly upset while talking. says his very best friend is his wife, adding “I know they’re afraid of me”, referring to his family and friends.
The 66-year-old was reportedly diagnosed two years ago with the disease that causes memory loss and problems thinking, according to Global News.
He goes on to explain he does not like people “talking around him”, as Ms Beamer, who is making the video and asking the questions, describes it.
Mr Beamer says “all of his friends are highly intelligent”, but that their conversations only revolve around simple things with answers of only yes, no or maybe.
Finishing the video, he says, “I love them, I wish they’d come visit. I’d love it if they came over for a while and we could talk about what’s really happening behind the scenes.”
When Ms Beamer asked her husband if he would rather talk about the fact he had the disease, or ignore it, he answered he would rather ignore it.
According to data from the US-based Alzheimer’s Association, the disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the US - and the only cause of death in the top 10 that cannot be prevented, cured or slowed down.
The video has been shared more than 1,600 times and viewed over 95,000 times in the three days since it has been posted.
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