A Tennessee dad of two sets of twins has died from mad cow disease — less than a year after he was diagnosed with the human version of the degenerative brain disorder.
Tony Gibson, 33, was unable to walk, talk or communicate in his final days at an assisted living facility near the family’s home in Nashville, People reported.
He died on Jan. 30.
“He held out the whole day up until almost midnight. He is the strongest,” said his widow, Danielle Gibson. “When he was struggling for his last breath, I was so heartbroken. I feel an empty hole. Everything reminds me of him. Every time I look at our babies, I think about how they’ll never know him.”
The twins, all girls, are ages 11 and 2.
A day before he died, his wife sang “Amazing Grace” to him from beside his hospital bed, Facebook video shows.
Gibson was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, last March and his health rapidly declined. The rare and fatal brain disorder affects about 1 in a million people a year worldwide, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
His health first took a turn in late 2017, when he started to lose his memory and would become confused doing routine tasks, like going to the grocery store or the doctor’s office.
At first, doctors believed he might have had dementia. But after he developed paranoia and hallucinations, his wife took him to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with CJD. CJD is known as the human form of mad cow disease.
“I have never been so devastated,” Danielle told People weeks before her husband died. “I couldn’t believe it. I never expected something like this, never even heard of it. They gave him a maximum of six months to a year.”
Doctors are not sure how Gibson contracted the disorder.