Dear Friends and fans, attached is the link for David Cassidy's appearance today on Dr. Phil.
As most everyone knows by now, David has come forward publicly about his new challenge: the diagnosis of early onset dementia. The show is bittersweet and the situation heart-wrenching. David Cassidy defined my generation growing up in the '70s as the definitive teen idol, and broke out from the Partridge Family to record more than 20 solo albums over his near 50-year musical career. His fan club was bigger than the Beatles and Elvis combined, and many of his stadium concert records set during the early '70s still hold today.
His dementia diagnosis is tragic, but his public expression and openness about it, heroic. He is first and foremost a man. A human being with a struggle. What a rocky road it is through this life to deal with being a human being, you know? Let's wish for his best, pray for his best, and show gratitude for the gift he has given us as an artist and a comfort. Our hearts also go out to his family. They will have their own horrific battle to deal with. His friends, bandmates, and everyone who cares about him will need support. The ugliness of this disease radiates out to all of us who have had or will have someone we love deal with it.
It's a sensitive subject for me. Both my parents died of it. My aunt is having her funeral service today because of it. It's everywhere. Hard to accept that David Cassidy, my musical hero who was almost somehow part of my own family, is now facing it. Does it ever end? The answer is no. At least, not until the medical field can beat it.
When a TV celebrity with whom we are attached comes forward like this it somehow brings a little bit of peace reminding us that we are all human together. No amount of fame or money can bail us out. We only have each other, right? Let's fight these diseases with a united front, in any small way we can.
Thanks, David, for the music, the good times, the openness of your bad times, and the sentimentality you have shown towards your very devout fan base all through the years. David's closing wishes from this very painful episode will speak to his legacy forever, and what he is all about. If you watch nothing else, watch that part. Even if you are not a fan, you will be touched.
