Goodbye tour over, Glenn Campbell appears at Senate hearing

Country singer Glen Campbell was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in 2011, joining more than five million Americans and their families who are battling the disease.

Although Campbell no longer has the capacity to tour, he did play an important gig this week, taking the stage on Capitol Hill. Campbell sat beside his daughter at a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Ashley Campbell described how the disease had affected her father and their family, and encouraged the Senate to approve the Obama proposal for additional funding for research into the disease. Click here for a short clip of her testimony.

Campbell's daughter was the driving force behind her father's now-concluded "Goodbye Tour," which gave the musician and his fans a chance to connect following the diagnosis, while the disease had not yet progressed too far. As Ashley told the committee, "Dad thought it was important for people to know you can keep doing what you love — that life doesn't end right away when you get Alzheimer's."

Every Alzheimer's patient and family deserves their own "goodbye tour," while competency remains, to do the things that are important to them. During this time, the affected individual should make the appropriate legal and financial plans that will make the transition smoother for everyone. Someone should be empowered to make the patient's health care decisions with a health care power of attorney; someone should also be named to make financial decisions with a durable power of attorney.  The entire estate plan should be revisited, or created if there is not one. It's also advisable for the spouse, if there is one, to revisit her own legal plans. An experienced estate planning/elder law attorney will be able to advise you about all these matters.

We wish Campbell and his entire family well on their journey.