This Man Drew His Face For 5 Years. The Reason Will Make You Cry

Back in 1995, a talented artist from the United Kingdom named William Utermohlen was devastated to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

This is a very difficult disease for anyone to deal with. Alzheimer’s is a neurological disorder most often characterized by memory loss and cognitive deterioration as the brain cells begin to die. The disease is considered to be a type of neurodegenerative dementia and it can start off very mildly, but will get progressively worse over time making it an extremely heartbreaking disease to watch a loved one endure. On learning of his illness, artist William Utermohlen embarked on a final collection of his works - a series of self portraits spanning a period of several years during his declining health. The resulting collection of artwork, made public after Utermohlen’s death in 2007 is nothing short of heartbreaking to behold. The images gradually show how the disease was affecting the artist until he was clearly struggling to recognize his own features in order to draw them.