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MY DAD HAD DEMENTIA. With each passing day, I saw him lose more and more himself, until there was barely anything left of the man I once knew. For two years, my sister and I were his caregivers. Those were easily the most turbulent two years of my life.
In April 2017, we made a gut-wrenching decision. My sisters and I decided it was time to move Dad into a rest home. By then, he couldn't remember who we were.
During this difficult time, I started writing my first School for Spirits book. In it, Taishi Nakamura places a hand on the forehead of a man with dementia, and the man suddenly remembers his daughters. I wrote this book around June-August of 2017.
In October of that year, we got a call from my dad's rest home: he had been moved to the hospital. When my sisters and I visited him that night, we were stunned. Dad remembered us. He remembered our names! He remembered the names of actors on tv. He was even cracking jokes like our old dad used to!
We were amazed. We thought we had him back!
Two weeks later, he passed away.
I kept thinking about School for Spirits and Taishi. It was as if I'd predicted my own life before it happened. I like to think I had my own Taishi Nakamura who blessed me with few more days with my father.
I'm not as young as Lucy, this novel's heroine, but I have something in common with her. Like her, I've experienced a lot of death at a fairly young age. Several parts of “Angel of Death” are based on true events.
I think death is probably the most difficult thing a person can go through. You never fully recover from losing a loved one. If you've lost someone too, my heart goes out to you, and I hope this book gives you some comfort.
-Aron