This is my older brother Jim, and the photo was taken last September when I was visiting up north in Maryland. Jim has been diagnosed with Frontal Temporal Dementia, and though he was somewhat lucid then and could talk and hold a conversation, he has regressed to the point now that he can’t even say “Yes” or “No”. He has regressed to a child like mind, … not even aware really that he is in the world.

He was the most brilliant man I’ve ever known, and made his living as a top Computer Programmer and Data Analyst for the military working at a secret military base somewhere deep in the back woods of Maryland just nine months ago. He was fascinated by all things of science, and as late as the year before in a phone conversation he told me that he was going back to school to study to become a Micro Biologist and Geneticist.
Today I found out that last week he was committed to an assisted living facility. He no longer has the functional skills to take care of himself.
It breaks my heart.