Glen Campbell Retires From Battle with Alzheimer’s

Country music legend Glen Campbell Retires From Battle with Alzheimer’s, he released his final studio recording, “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” Tuesday.

Campbell was diagnosed in 2011 by Dr. Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, who advised his wife that it was time to move him to a specialized memory care facility that could care for him 24 hours a day.

The 78-year-old Counrty singer was visited by NBC Nightly News reporter Cynthia McFadden who sat down with Campbell’s wife, Kim Woolen at the Nashville care facility where he has lived since March.

Despite entering the final stages of the disease, Campbell brightened up when his wife entered the room and played the guitar. He went public with his fight in 2011, hoping to raise awareness about the disease.

“We need to let people know about this disease, we need to do something about it,” Woolen remembers her husband telling her at the time. “He really made himself vulnerable, because he wanted to make a difference.”

Campbell’s final studio recording, “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” was released Tuesday. He hasn’t performed in public since November 2012.

Campbell’s wife of 32 years, Kim Woollen, took me for a visit with him. Before the visit I asked her if her husband still plays the guitar. She told us that he has two guitars with him and that “sometimes he gives us a big surprise, he’ll pick it up and we’re like, whoa! Where did that come from?”

Source