Moderator and actress Jonida Vokshi narrated the battle of her father, who passed away a few weeks ago after 1 month in a coma, with the disease of dementia.
She said that her father started having the first memory problems about 3 years ago, when he started forgetting where he put objects and repeating stories, but added that they blamed it on age.
But, the actress added that "the misfortune was that it was not just a momentary forgetfulness, but it was the first stages of dementia."
"For us it was a difficult 5-year, we stayed close to him as much as we knew because we were unprepared. It was difficult, despite the fact that we tried to make it a priority for us, life was not simple with him", said Jonida Vokshi.
The moderator confessed that when her father fell into a coma, she still remembered her family members and for that she expressed that she is grateful to God, but emphasized that " I have not accepted the death of my father, I know that he is somewhere. I pray that I feel his presence through the little things that happen to me during the day and this is happening to me ."
Jonida Vokshi: At the age of 4 or 5, Dad started having the first problems with forgetfulness, which happens to be blamed on age. We justified it with the fact that "we are young and we are forgetting". The beginnings were easy, forgetting objects, stories repeated more than once.
But the trouble was that it wasn't just a momentary forgetfulness, it was the first stages of dementia. Anyone who has experienced it in their closest people, I believe for me it is the most serious and difficult disease to cope with. It is that disease that takes your life, your relative begins and transforms before your eyes. It was a tough 5 for us, we stuck to it as much as we knew how because we were unprepared. It was difficult, despite trying to make it a priority for us, life was not simple with him.
Even though the disease came and advanced, his love, giving love to us, mom, me, Besnik and the children, never faded. This fills me with beautiful memories, I see the videos and my children have grown up with their grandfather as much as possible.
And what raises my head and I say thank you to God, is that I lost him at a moment when he still remembered us and I still have images of him giving me love, because he had my weak spot. Until the last day he lost his baby and fell into a coma, after 1 month he stayed in a coma until his heart stopped. Until this happened he told the nurses that I was his soul mate. This is the last image of dad and I don't want another. It left a void, I had difficult moments, that I didn't want to do anything but stay with myself and the memories with my father. But he wouldn't want that, because it wouldn't do me or the children any good to see their mother in that state. He always told me that I should be strong. And I took the situation in hand and I try to share the pain and the strength to move forward with people because I know it will help someone.
I will live with this emptiness and I want to live. We don't know what death is, we just lose someone. But the concept of death is a concept that everyone gives the connotation they want. You don't have to accept death, I didn't accept death in my father, I know it's somewhere. I pray that I feel his presence through the little things that happen to me during the day and this is happening to me. We don't have to accept death in close people.