Alzheimer’s disease is a heartbreaking disease that affects millions of Americans and many more people all over the world. Not only is the disease horrific for the people who are afflicted with it, it is also heart wrenching for families who have to watch as their loved ones slowly forget virtually everything about themselves and those who love them.

Ted McDermott was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years ago, and his memory gets a bit worse every day. Thankfully, his son Mac has come up with a way to bring the dad he knows and loves back, even for just a moment.

Ted was always a passionate musician who travelled around the United Kingdom performing in his younger days. As his memory started to fade because of this horrid disease, it became more and more difficult for him to perform. Despite everything that he has been through, Mac said that music is still very much in Ted’s heart.

“Dad was a singer all his life – he was a Butlin’s Redcoat and then traveled around singing in clubs around the country,” Mac explained. “He worked in a factory after he got married and still did the bit of singing on side. His nickname is ‘The Songaminute Man’ – simply because of how many songs he knows. In the last few years his memory has deteriorated a lot – often not recognizing family and with many aggressive episodes.”

These aggressive moments make it hard to deal with Ted, but Mac has come up with an ingenious way to keep his father’s spirit alive.

When Mac notices that his father is cognizant, he starts playing his favorite songs. Sure enough, Ted remembers all of the words and is able to sing them perfectly! These moments of clarity serve as motivation for Mac to keep helping his dad.

“Now when we’ve got him singing again he’s back in the room. It’s these moments that we treasure,” Mac said. “The plan is to share as much of Dad’s singing as we can and hopefully help raise money to fund the work of the Alzheimer’s Society – more specifically to go towards paying for a person at the end of the phone line to help other people like us.”

The family has since started a Just Giving page in the hopes of funding an album made by Ted, and they have pledged to donate 25 percent of the proceeds to Alzheimer’s research!

We hope Ted achieves his goal of producing his own album! Check out one of his performances below!