Glen Campbell has entered the “later stages” of Alzheimer’s disease, the legendary musician’s wife said, and can now barely speak.
“He cannot play guitar anymore. I don’t even know if he knows what it’s for,”Kim Campbell told the Tampa Bay Times. “But our children come and play for him. It’s hard to tell if he’s responding to it much. Sometimes he’ll listen and sometimes he’s distracted. He’s in his own world right now.”
Glen, the country music icon and Grammy winner behind such hits as “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Gentle on My Mind,” revealed he had been diagnosed with the disease in 2011. He played his final show in 2012.
Kim says that he is now living in a 24-hour memory care facility in Nashville after initially attempting inbound home care. “Some people can remain at home but everybody eventually needs 24/7 care,” she said.
“Glen’s getting great care, he’s happy, he’s cheerful,” she continued. “He’s healthy but he has lost most of his language skills. He doesn’t understand anything anyone is saying to him.”
However, Kim says that despite Glen’s illness, he has managed to maintain his faith in God.
“There have been times when he’d walk over to a window and look at the beautiful trees outside, and he’d just raise his hands and say, ‘Thank you, heavenly father,’” she said. “He could barely speak at all but he could come up with, ‘We’re so blessed,’ or ‘Thank you, heavenly father.’ That really comforts me to know that he has that sense of God’s presence in his life, that he’s not alone, even if I’m not right next to him.”