Saddened Anew: Reminded of Robin Williams

Reminded of Robin Williams by an online post in Discover Magazine, I was saddened anew at the tragic loss of this kind man and incredible talent.

The post talks about a paper in the journal Neurology that was written by Susan Schneider Williams, the widow of Robin Williams. With acute and touching detail, her article, “The terrorist inside my husband’s brain,” describes her husband’s rapid, progressive, and heartbreaking physical and emotional deterioration.

The cause–the “terrorist”–determined after his death, was Lewy Body disease, an incurable condition that is “one of the most common causes of dementia in the elderly.”

In the full text of the Neurology article, Schneider Williams says, “As you may know, my husband Robin Williams had the little-known but deadly Lewy body disease (LBD). He died from suicide in 2014 at the end of an intense, confusing, and relatively swift persecution at the hand of this disease’s symptoms and pathology. He was not alone in his traumatic experience with this neurologic disease. As you may know, almost 1.5 million nationwide are suffering similarly right now.”

Her impassioned words are a plea for knowledge, research, and help for those who might be saved the devastation her husband–and she–endured.

I am so proud to have represented Robin Williams and have enormous respect for Susan Schneider Williams for telling so well and clearly a story that must have been terribly difficult to write. I hope you will read the article–either recapped in Discovery or the full text in Neurology–or listen to the Neurology podcast interview with Susan Schneider Williams.