Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is presented through Lionel Mayhew's rapidly advancing illness, which reshapes Edward Mayhew's later life by bringing him back to the family cottage to care for his father.

Illness and Family Circumstances

In 1980, four years after his mother died, Edward moved back to the cottage because his father was suffering from rapidly advancing Parkinson's disease. Edward's sisters, Harriet and Anne, were married, had children, and lived abroad. The account identifies the speed of the illness's progression but gives no further clinical details.

Care and Aftermath

Edward cared for his father at the cottage until Lionel died there in 1983. The narrative does not state that Parkinson's disease caused his death. Edward remained in the cottage afterward as a tenant; his sisters had become its legal owners. His father's illness thus marks Edward's return to the family home and the beginning of his long residence there.