When Simon McDermott’s father, Ted, was 80 years old, his memory started getting fuzzy. He would forget things, dates, times, and people. It started slowly, but Simon knew he was losing his father a little at a time. Alzheimer’s often strikes people when they are in their 70s and 80s, and in some cases, it can change a way a person acts and thinks in a matter of months.
Simon couldn’t bear the thought of losing his father, but he also knew there was no way to stop the disease.
Sadly, it wasn’t long before Ted’s memory was almost completely deteriorated. He could no longer recognize his family members, and he had trouble doing normal things on his own. Ted was also becoming depressed.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association:
“The number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s is growing — and growing fast. An estimated 5.7 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer’s. An estimated 5.7 million Americans of all ages are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2018. This number includes an estimated 5.5 million people age 65 and older and approximately 200,000 individuals under age 65 who have younger-onset Alzheimer’s. One in 10 people ages 65 and older (10 percent) has Alzheimer’s dementia. Almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s are women. Older African-Americans are about twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older whites. Hispanics are about one and one-half times as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older whites. As the number of older Americans grows rapidly, so too will the numbers of new and existing cases of Alzheimer’s. Today, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s every 65 seconds. By mid-century, someone in the United States will develop the disease every 33 seconds.”
Simon tried everything to make his father happy again, but it didn’t seem like anything would work.
Then he remembered his father’s love of music. When Simon was younger, his father was a popular singer and he shared many songs with his son. Simon decided to see if music would help improve his father’s mood.
Whenever Ted seemed to be suffering from the disease, Simon would put him in the car, and they would ride around together and listen to old music. Even when Ted didn’t remember his own name and couldn’t recognize his son, he could remember the lyrics to his favorite songs. It allowed him to be normal again.
He could sing them perfectly.
He knew every word, pitch, and tone, and he sang them all beautifully. It was as if the Alzheimer’s just couldn’t compete with his love and passion for music. This wasn’t just therapeutic for Ted, but Simon, as well. When they were together in the car singing, he had his dad back.
Simon took his father on car rides as often as possible, and after a while, he got an idea to start recording him.
He videotaped his father singing “Quando Quando Quando” by Emilio Pericoli and Tony Renis. He shared the video on social media, along with a link to The Alzheimer’s Society. The video got over a million views in just a couple hours.
The family members of people suffering from Alzheimer’s saw hope in the video. Not only were they touched by Simon’s effort to help his father, they were also relieved that music was giving Ted a part of his life back.
Simon set out to help his father find himself and happiness, but by sharing his video, he gave hope to millions of people.
If Ted could remember the lyrics to his favorite songs and maintain the ability to sing beautifully, maybe there was hope that their loved ones are still there.
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