For my dad: Adelino de Campos Cardoso

This is a video I made about my dad, who died six years ago in 2004, after being sick for 17 years. The last 5 years he suffered from locked in syndrome after 2 severe strokes. He had lost his ability to speak, eat, drink and move, but his mind was as strong as ever.
For 5 years my mother, my brother and I looked after him every day. I’d go and see him every day at lunchtime for 2 hours. I’d shave him, give him his medication and then we went out for a walk. On sunny days we would sit by the water simply holding hands. It’s amazing how you don’t need spoken language when there is so much love…
When I was expecting my first baby my dad decided that he didn’t want to live like this anymore. He told us that he wanted the tubefeeding to be stopped the next time the feedingtube gave in. This happened three months after my little girl was born…

It is sad that my children are missing out on what would have been a wonderful granddad, but I make sure that they know all about him!