This sent chills up and down my spine. My grandfather was an Olympic soccer player and coached a couple top college soccer programs in St. Louis. He also had Alzheimer's, thinking back now it could have been Lewy or some combination of things brought on by CTE from the headers but this happened was before that time. He played well into his 60's and one of the hardest things to see was him suddenly not knowing what to do with a ball. He had been able to juggle for an hour without letting it drop and even when he was older and still competing he could smoke a shot or race down the wing and make a beautiful pinpoint cross but after the disease progressed you'd pass him a ball and it would just bounce off his feet or he'd shuffle around and weakly toe it back (he was adamant about never kicking a ball with your toe). We would put games on the tv for him and he was totally lost or ambivalent about it (he still laughed his ads off at Letterman though). It was horrible for my family to see such a strong man reduced to a withered shell. I completely understand where she is coming from when she says she wishes Stan would pass. I wish my grandfather had passed suddenly like my mom's parents because while it was shocking and very painful it paled in comparison to the pain that that fucking asshole of a disease caused my dad and our family. And the worst thing about it is we cannot help but think of those last years when we remember him, which sucks because he was an amazing person.

I am no longer conflicted about assisted suicide after watching my grandfather fade and what it did to my family and his legacy. I don't think I could put my family through it if I end up losing that genetic lottery. I also feel like it's not the government's place to dictate how the terminally ill choose to leave this world.