Fear Knocked

""Ms. Wyco's deeply personal yet practical chapter on protecting those with Alzheimer's from financial exploitation demonstrates her commitment to preventing elder abuse through education and advocacy. Her detailed, actionable steps for securing finances and monitoring accounts reflect hard-won wisdom that will prove invaluable to families navigating similar challenges. I particularly appreciate how she emphasizes the importance of early intervention and strategic involvement of professionals like social workers and bank managers to create multiple layers of protection. This chapter alone makes her book an essential resource for families, caregivers, and professionals working to protect our most vulnerable elderly from financial predators."" -Michael Hackard -Attorney and Founder of Hackard Law, Elder Financial Abuse Expert, and Author. ""This story redefines the perception of 'vulnerable adults'. Advance directives can be compromised. This book encourages you to be vigilant and teaches you how to regain your loved one's wishes when safeguards fail."" -Kathleen Welcome―An AmeriCorps Victim Assistance Program member BS in Human Services. ""I was angry, reading about the injustices and frustrations! Then I was sad to read what happened in the hospice home. There is no way Jack should have suffered in that way. Unfortunately, coercion and manipulation were set in by the time his daughter Jacqueline realized what was going on. Your first instinct is to think well of people, especially ones that you love and have known for 20 years! I would have enjoyed meeting Jack. He sounds amazing. This book will tap into readers' emotions that will linger long after the book is read, as they have for me."" -Celia Hartigan-RN. ""The beautiful love and relationship of a daughter and her dad. Right to the very end. I found myself tearful several times, happy tears as well as sad. I also found myself reliving some of the crazy times in the city growing up. The areas Jacqueline speaks of were my stomping grounds. From where I lived, to where I went to school. Then being married with 2 of my 4 children, number 3 was on the way during the layoffs. Living through the series of arson fires, I knew some of those involved. It was a walk down memory lane. I felt Jacqueline's love, pain, her father's pride, and hers for him. What an incredible man he was. I only knew him as the firefighter he was in padding. What he was put through during this Alzheimer's process was cruel. Coercive control is a form of elder abuse but not enough is known. A wise woman once said to me, 'You're not responsible for what you don't know but once you do, then it's your responsibility to attempt to change or fix it.' To this day, Jacqueline is attempting to right an unbelievably broken system. The lessons learned were profound."" -Kathy Minehan―Co-Leader WINGS CISM Team, Massachusetts. ""Fear Knocked is a riveting, powerful, and evocative story of life in Boston in the 1970s and 1980s. Written in a pungent, direct, eloquent yet incredibly moving style. Jacqueline teaches her readers by what she learned through the treachery and betrayal of a woman who took advantage of her father's declining judgment. This story is an extraordinary testament to an amazing man, her childhood, her mother's strength and courage, and her parents' undying love. Jacqueline's father had grit and determination, and he honored his wife's memory with an extraordinary and perilous cross-country ride. He was selfless in his dedication to family."" -Hayden A. Duggan, Ed.D.