According to Robin Williams's widow, he suffered Lewey body dementia and he took his life to avoid having to live with the progressively worsening symptoms of the disease. These symptoms include hallucinations, often of animals and children, according to an article in the New York Times this week.

The early stages of the disease, when a person has insight into what is happening, is considered the time of the greatest risk of suicide.

The article put Robin Williams's death in a different perspective for me. It was not simply depression, according to this theory, that drove him to suicide.

I lost my father to suicide, and my mother to Alzheimer's which may also be related to Lewey bodies.  Both horrible deaths. People who have not had a family member suffer through Alzheimer's may think of it as loss of memory, when that is hardly the worst of it. My mother lost all ability to care for herself or even walk, she hallucinated, became paranoid, the disease stole her personality, and she could barely even communicate.

As for suicide, it is very difficult to ascribe a reason. My theories regarding my father have changed over the twenty plus years since we lost him.

My son Josh honored my father this month by joining the thousands who are growing a mustache and raising money for the Movember Foundation.

The Movember Foundation is a global charity committed to men living happier, healthier, longer lives. Since 2003, millions have joined the men’s health movement, raising $650 million and funding over 1,000 programs focusing on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, poor mental health and physical inactivity.

The state of men’s health is in a crisis. Men are dying too young. Gender is one of the strongest and most consistent predictors of health and life expectancy. For men, this is not good news. On average, across the world, men die 6 years earlier than women. Three quarters of suicides are by men. The World Health Organization estimates that 510,000 men die from suicide globally each year. That’s one every minute.

If you would like to learn more, or join Josh's crusade with the Movember Foundation, go to his link: https://us.movember.com/mospace/11975737

And grow a mustache.