Goodbye Tom

My grandad on my mother's side was named Tom. He had been in good health all his life, but recently suffered a minor stroke which left him with a condition called vascular dementia which is similar in symptoms to Alzheimer's. For the last year or so, his condition got steadily worse. He was often confused about where he was, and sometimes wandered out of the house or got angry and violent for no reason. He also had a number of bad falls. Several weeks ago, he was admitted to hospital with a chest infection. Whilst in hospital he had another fall (and possibly another minor stroke) and sadly this proved too much. The decision was made to stop his care when it became clear that he was not going to recover from all these complications, and he passed away a week ago last Friday. He was 85 years old.

Today was my grandad's funeral. Unfortunately I couldn't be there to give my support to my grandma or the rest of the family, but my thoughts were with them. Tom was a wonderful man - strong willed and not afraid to speak his mind, but also generous and fun-loving. We will all miss him very much.