Luke and Owen Wilson, have been served some tragic news, with the Hollywood actors’ father, Robert “Bob” Wilson, losing his battle with Alzheimer’s disease last Friday, May 5.
He was 75 years old.
Later in life, Bob Wilson may’ve been be better known as the father of two of Hollywood’s veteran movie stars, but Bob also made a profound impact on the showbusiness industry in his own way.
According to [Dallas News](https://www.dallasnews.com/obituaries/obituaries/2017/05/05/robert-bob-wilson-dallas-tv-pioneer-father-actors-owen-luke-dies|target=”_blank” |rel=”nofollow”), Bob was instrumental in changing the way people in Dallas viewed the news, namely pioneering alternative public affairs and news programming for Dallas’ public TV affiliate, KERA.
Back in 2016, Owen, 48, spoke with The News about his father’s condition, describing it as “a rough thing”.
“It’s one of those things where if somebody had said 10 years ago, when my dad and I were joking around, having a putting match, that this is the position your dad’s going to be in, where he basically needs 24-hour care, you’d think, ‘Gosh, I won’t be able to handle that. That’s just not possible’,” he explained.
“But it does happen. Such things just happen in life. You just have to do your best to deal with it. You’ve got no choice but to accept it.”
Alzheimer’s disease in Australia
Did you know more than 400,000 Australians are living with dementia at this very minute?
Dementia is the term used to describe the large group of illnesses that cause a steep decline in one’s cognitive ability – including Alzheimer’s disease.
According to Alzheimer’s Australia, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and impacts up to 70 per cent of all people living with dementia, and can be either sporadic or familial.
It can affect people of any age, but the biggest risk for having Alzheimer’s disease is ageing, itself; the older one gets, the more at risk they are of developing Alzheimer’s.
Symptoms of dementia
• Memory loss that affects day-to-day function
• Difficulty performing familiar tasks
• Confusion about time and place
• Problems with language
• Problems with abstract thinking
• Poor or decreased judgement
• Problems misplacing things
• Changes in personality or behaviour
• A loss of initiative
If you would like to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease, call the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500 or visit Alzheimer’s Australia’s website for more information.
