The widow of Robin Williams recalls: "A spirit unusual in a diseased brain"

In a text entitled "The terrorist in the brain of my husband," Susan Schneider Williams returns to the slow death of Robin Williams, died of a neurodegenerative disease in 2014. 

On 11 August 2014, Robin Williams committed suicide at the age of 63after being diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease. Dementia with Lewy bodies, a derivative of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's that affects the brain, diagnosed in November 2013. In the medical journal"Neurology" , his widow, Susan Schneider Williams returns to its slow agony and loss mental capacity, in an essay entitled "the terrorist in the brain of my husband." 

"It's a personal story, terribly tragic and that breaks my heart," she began, addressing himself directly to physicians. "I am writing to share this story with you, especially for you. My hope is that this will help you understand your patients and their wives and those who care for them. And the research that you lead, maybe this will add some faces behind what you do. "

I lost my best friend 

"Robin is and will remain a spirit unusual in the body of a normal man, with a human brain," says Susan Schneider Williams. "I have not only lost my husband because of dementia of Lewy, I lost my best friend. Robin and I had for each other unconditional love, sure and strong, we both had long wanted. During our seven years together, we said to each other our hopes and fears without judgment. " 

And together they wanted to overcome the disease. "All the obstacles we meet, individually or as a couple, were in one way or another surmountable, as we were there for each other. When the disease began to sway a flood of symptoms in our way, the foundation of friendship and love was our armor. "Robin Williams has suffered many months of various symptoms, including affecting their work. 

The hardest part of his life

Paranoia, insomnia, anxiety. But memory loss. His wife remembers a panic attack he had on the set of "Night at the Museum 3": "He could no longer remember his text, while 5 months before, he had played for 5 months at Broadway play "Bengal tiger at the Baghdad zoo", sometimes playing twice a day, with thousands of lines of text - and never a mistake."This loss of memory and inability to control this devastating the anxiety."

Symptoms that eventually drive him to suicide on 11 August 2014. "I'll never know the true depth of his suffering," said his widow, "Nor how he fought. But I saw the bravest man in the world play the hardest role of her life. "To help those who like her are or have faced the disease, Susan Schneider Williams is now a member of American Brain Foundation.