Robin Williams' Widow Shares Essay Revealing Heartbreaking Details Of The Comedian's Final Days

These are such tough words to read, but such an important lesson and memory to hold.
It’s been two years since Robin Williams‘ death, and his widow, Susan Schneider Williams, is doing very difficult and admirable work in being sure that the awareness of his brain disease, Lewy Body Disease, will not be forgotten.
Related: Zelda Williams Pays Tribute To Robin
In a heartbreaking essay Susan published in Neurology this week, the widow shared a very intimate portrait of the final few months with her late husband, including how the disease consumed and completely transformed his life.
The essay, titled The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain, reads in part:

“By wintertime, problems with paranoia, delusions and looping, insomnia, memory, and high cortisol levels├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥just to name a few├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥were settling in hard. Psychotherapy and other medical help was becoming a constant in trying to manage and solve these seemingly disparate conditions.”

Ugh.
She could tell something was wrong when Robin kept asking for a “reboot,” seeking some kind of fix.
Susan continues:

“He kept saying, ‘I just want to reboot my brain.’ When we were in the neurologist’s office learning exactly what this meant, Robin had a chance to ask some burning questions. He asked, ‘Do I have Alzheimer’s? Dementia? Am I schizophrenic?’ and when his doctor said ‘No,’ Robin was unsatisfied.”

So scary — and so heartbreaking to think Robin suffered in such a way that he had no idea what was going on. No one should have to do that.
Related: Matt Damon Pays Poignant Tribute To Robin
Susan recalls what ended up being their final day, together, too — including a particularly touching, poignant moment:

“We did all the things we love on Saturday day and into the evening, it was perfect├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥like one long date. By the end of Sunday, I was feeling that he was getting better. When we retired for sleep, in our customary way, my husband said to me, ‘Goodnight, my love,’ and waited for my familiar reply: ‘Goodnight, my love.’ His words still echo through my heart today.”

Wow.
Truly haunting.
But so powerful and meaningful, so that others may understand exactly what Robin went through and keep awareness up about this very unusual and unsettling disorder.
[Image via Joseph Marzullo/WENN.]