“Donald Friedman brings his considerable literary gift to this memoir of despair, and with that gift fills the pages with the flickering light of the spirit.”

―William Kotzwinkle author of ET the Extraterrestrial and Felonious Monk

All royalties from sales of Still Phyllis have been assigned to the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation

My sister Phyllis was a vital, single woman, a photographer and writer, who was enjoying life in the city when she was suddenly stricken by Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), a disease rarer than a lightning strike that spreads, incredibly, via a non-living molecule called a prion. Terrified to realize she couldn’t perform her duties at work, Phyllis very soon couldn’t even find her way to her desk or to her apartment from the corner store. Informed of her diagnosis with this dementing and always fatal illness, I, her estranged brother, her only living relative, brought her home (against the advice of her doctors) to care for her with my wife.

This memoir tells the profoundly affecting family drama that ensued. It is a story of reconciliation and of how, paradoxically, closeness can deepen when words are lost—a truth that I hope will inspire others with a friend or family member with dementia.

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All royalties from sales of Still Phyllis have been assigned to the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation