Gene Wilder's Widow Pens Essay About The Late Actor And His Bout With Alzheimer's

Karen Wilder, the wife of the beloved actor, Gene Wilder, is calling for a greater recognition for caregivers of patients who suffer from Alzheimer's.

To start off the new year, the widow penned an emotional essay that recounts the struggles of the Willy Wonka star and her husband from the chronic neurodegenerative disease. She also highlighted the struggles of caregivers or spouses when caring for a patient with similar debilitating diseases.

Demanding Recognition

"I never pictured myself marrying a movie star. I also never saw myself spending years of my life taking care of one. But I've done both. Love was the reason for the first. Alzheimer's disease, the second," wrote Karen in an essay published by ABC News.

She then recounted her almost ideal married life with the actor before the disease hit him. She said they went around the world, painted side by side, and learned how to dance. She also shared how the disease started to change him. From the gentleman she married, he became more violent and of course, forgetful. Once at a party, he even forgot the title of one of his most famous works, Young Frankenstein, and had to act it out instead.

As the disease progresses, Gene forgot how to do simple tasks. At one point, Karen saw his wrist bleeding because he could not take his watch off.

However, aside from watching her husband disappear from Alzheimer's, the former speech pathologist also had her own physical and emotional sufferings. Karen wanted to direct attention to the many sacrifices of caregivers who spend all their time and energy caring for a patient with a similar disease.

She revealed that about 40 percent of caregivers die before their patients, not because of Alzheimer's but because of the physical and emotional demands of caring for a sick loved one.

Fighting Alzheimer's

Moreover, Karen wanted to raise awareness about the disease. She praised the Gates Foundation, founded by Melinda and Bill Gates, for donating $100 million for the research and eradication of the neurodegenerative diseases.

In November, Bill announced the massive investment that seeks to fund ideas for treatments that are currently not available for patients. Half of the donation will be invested in Dementia Discovery Fund.

"From a societal point of view, we need huge risk-taking on this one," the Microsoft co-founder told TIME. "This is a big enough problem that we should fund those companies to be ready to go in a four- to five-year period. Like many diseases, the chances that we may need multiple drugs to get at different stages of the disease fully seems very likely."