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Helen Khan lost her dad to Alzheimer’s disease, and like Gene Hackman’s daughter, she is very grateful for the ‘absolutely amazing’ care of his wife in his final years
Helen Khan is incredibly grateful for her father’s wife, who was an ‘absolutely amazing’ caregiver.
Helen devastatingly lost her dad, Kevin Frostick, aged 76, to Alzheimer’s disease in November 2023, a decade after he was diagnosed with the brain condition. There was more than 5,000 miles between them when he passed away, with Helen in Hertfordshire, in the UK, and her dad in Thailand, where he lived with his beloved wife, Khon.
Much like Hollywood actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, it was Khon, 57, who became Kevin’s dedicated full-time carer in his final years of life. It has now been revealed that Gene, 95, had advanced Alzheimer’s which contributed towards his death. He died a week after Betsy, 65, passed away from a rare infectious disease.
Father-of-three Gene was found deceased alongside his classical pianist wife in their Santa Fe home in New Mexico on February 27. His daughters, Elizabeth and Leslie, described the couple’s bond as a “wonderful marriage” and said Betsy “took very, very good care of him”, and deserves credit for ultimately “keeping him alive”.
Leslie, who lived nearly 1,000 miles away from her father, in California, said it had been a few months since she’d last seen or heard from him, but they were “close” and “everything was good”. Helen, 45, empathises with Leslie in many ways, and she is also very thankful for her dad’s wife, who took was dedicated to looking after him.
Speaking to the Mirror amid the news of Gene’s cause of death, Helen said: “His wife, Khon, was an absolutely amazing carer and we are very grateful for her. She took the pressure off us as his kids. It was really, really tough having such distance between us. He was always on my mind, and she took the weight off our shoulders.”
Kevin and Khon were together for 25 years and she helped him maintain a close relationship with his two children, Helen and her brother Paul, 43, when his health declined. “We knew he was safe in her hands. She had unwavering dedication to him and never complained, even in the tough times,” Helen said. “It was amazing to see such love and care.”
Kevin permanently moved to Thailand 15 years before his death, and in 2016, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s during a visit to the UK. “I used to speak to him as much as I could on Zoom and email, but as the decline happened, we didn’t get much back. He couldn’t have normal conversations, but Khon bridged the gap,” Helen explained.
When Kevin was living on the other side of the world, Helen found “the unknown” the scariest part. She said: “The unknown was my biggest fear. We didn’t know what was going to happen to him, but we knew it wasn’t going to be good. Thankfully, he had a peaceful death in his sleep so it was the best-case scenario.”
Helen, who works as a PR professional, last saw her dad in October 2022, when she visited Thailand with Paul the year before Kevin passed away. She returned for his funeral in December 2023 and has since kept in contact with Khol, who she is hoping to visit soon.
Alzheimer’s, which affects 900,000 people in the UK, runs in Kevin’s side of the family, and his mother and sister also battled it. Kevin was 60 when Helen first started to notice the symptoms. She explained: “He couldn’t seem to link things together properly and had trouble remembering. I suppose it was his short-term memory going.”
Over the next decade-and-a-half, Kevin slowly deteriorated, physically and mentally, which was heart-shattering for Helen to witness. “As a family member, it’s almost like you’re grieving every time you see them because you’ve lost a little bit more of them,” she said. “Sometimes, you might see glimpses of their personality or they might smile and recognise you, but then it goes away again. It’s a very long and hard grieving process.”
Finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease is so important to Helen and her family. If you would like to donate towards Alzheimer’s Research UK, you can visit www.alzheimersresearchuk.org