During the last weeks and days of my father’s life, family and friends came to visit him and pay their last respects.

Unfortunately, my daughter was not able to visit him before my father moved into the last stages of dementia.  A negative experience at the hospital caused him to experience delirium and then to decline rapidly.  When she arrived, he was barely recognizable, propped up in his wheelchair by the nurse’s station, unaware of his surroundings and not speaking.

But as my daughter looked at him straight in the face, smiled and said “Hi, Papa, it’s me”, for a moment, just a moment, there was a glimmer of recognition as he smiled and raised his hand …and then he was gone again, back to wherever dementia sufferers go.  This was the last time we saw a glimmer of clarity in him.

Many caregivers of dementia patients see those moments of clarity in their loved ones and they offer moments of hope that perhaps their loved ones are returning to them.  Excrutiatingly, the moments don’t last.

Directed by Simon Pitts and written by Carol Younghusband, “Ten Glorious Seconds” is a short film about Albert, who is in the last stages of Alzheimer’s Disease and his wife Josie who longs to connect with him.

You can watch the movie here ~~> Ten Glorious Seconds from Simon Pitts on Vimeo.

I would love to see your comments about it.