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Tony Hawk is getting about the realities of having Alzheimer's disease.
The 50-year-old professional skateboarder shared a photo of himself holding his mother Nancy Hawk's hand on Instagram.
"I visited my mom today," Hawk wrote. "She has 93 years of life behind her, but the last one has been more corrupted by Alzheimer's and dementia."
Alzheimer's is a degenerative brain disease that affects memory. According to the Alzheimer's Association, 50 million people are living with Alzheimer's and other dementias. Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., the Alzheimer's Association said.
Hawk went on to explain that his mother worked as a high school secretary, before teaching a local college and ultimately earning a doctorate in business education.
"She used to have a quiet time together (usually in front of the TV)," said Hawk. "In other words, she was subconsciously dictating her thoughts and experiences through phantom keyboards in real-time."
The athlete admitted that the "phantom" typing "annoyed" him at first, describing how "fingertips were tapping away on me while I had to endure 60 Minutes (her choice, of course). "
Tony Hawk
Joshua Blanchard / Getty
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"She was strong, vivacious, quick-witted, edgy and ultra supportive in those days," Hawk said of his mother. "When I see her now, she does not recognize me. Sometimes there is a slight glimmer in her eye, sometimes she babbles incoherently, and sometimes she uncontrollably bursts into tears. "
He continued, "Today we mostly sat in silence. I gave her updates on my family and fed me a little bit of coca Cola through a straw every few minutes (which she still loves, even through her catatonic condition). But then I see her fingers twitching. "
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Hawk said he was watching his mother's fingers, he was "reminded of his habit of typing unconsciously throughout my life."
"And even though it may have been her body [yet again] "It's just that, it's giving me comfort," she said, "it's still happening in her life, her experiences, her feelings, and our current conversation," he said. "Most of my visits with a feeling of despair and impending finality, but today I left with a sense of hope. I like to think of my mom air-typing 'f- Alzheimer's' as I walked away. #endalz. "
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