The year is ending on an emotional note for singer Jann Arden, whose beloved mother Joan Richards died Sunday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“Mom is gone,” the Canadian singer shared on social media.
Arden, 56, wrote about caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s in her 2017 book Feeding My Mother. “We still fall into so much laughter, feel so much insane gladness and joy,” she wrote. "It's such a contrast from one minute to the next and it teaches me constantly: it makes me stronger and more humble and more empathetic and caring and kind.”
Before the holidays, Arden opened up in a Facebook post about “saving up my tears for my mother – for when she actually leaves the earth.” She wrote: “One must pace themselves for these long, slow deaths.”
The “Good Mother” singer spent Christmas in England but tweeted regular updates on Richards’ condition.
“Think good things for my mom,” she tweeted on Dec. 27. “She’s gathering up speed to leave here.” Two days later, Arden shared: “She’s still hanging on.”
Arden’s father Derrel died in 2015.