Going from carefree to caretaker is a difficult transition. That is the message in “Every Time I See a Buzzard,” the true story of one man’s two-year work of love to care for his wife of 48 years as she copes with Huntington’s disease, a rare, debilitating medical condition that is always fatal—with no cure in sight.
The author traces the couple’s relationship as she begins her descent from diagnosis to death and the physical and emotional demands on him intensify accordingly. He describes the various stages of their emotional and spiritual journey, the heroic efforts she and her doctors make to alleviate her suffering as the disease progresses, his frustrations and emotional ups and downs throughout, the pain of her inevitable death, and the toll the process takes on everyone involved.
He admits that he let his heart overrule his head when he opted to undertake the role of undertaker, but he let love rule—and he never regretted his decision. The poignant moments he describes are heart-wrenching, such as his reactions to the first time she asked him “Who are you?” and the moment she realized “I can’t do things anymore.”
His purpose in writing this book replete with equal parts of humor and pathos is twofold: to advise anyone thinking about being a long-time caretaker to reconsider lest they put themselves at risk too and to let readers know that all diseases—rare or not—should be treated equally when it comes to finding a cure.

Arthur G. Sharp is an author/editor with 20 books and 2,500 articles in his credit list. A draft of the 80,000-word manuscript or sample chapters is/are available.