I'd say very much so. My father passed away 6 years after showing the first signs of Alzheimers and it was incredibly emotionally difficult losing him in this slow progressive way. It took a toll on the whole family. All the kids tried to do as much as we could - actually more for my mother than my father, since there really wasn't much we could do after a point, but realized that it was really tough on my mom.

Hi youngblackdude. I think you'd get responses with a more specific topic. People's experiences probably vary based on:

-was the sickness terminal or not, or unknown at the time?
-how old was the parent?
-how far away was the parent?
-was the other parent alive? what was their health state?
-how was the person's relationship with the parent?
-how involved were any siblings? any issues with that?
-what was the parent's mental/emotional state? how about the siblings' mental/emotional state?
-what was the care situation - doctors, caregivers, religious institution, friend support network?
-what was the person's life situation when it happened?
-what was the person's mental/emotional state otherwise?

Anybody whose mom or dad had some type of illness(cancers etc) was it a difficult time for you mentally /emotionally?. Were you there for them threwout the process ..in time did it get better or worsen /result in death ?