Emily Harrington, a pharmacist in Massachusetts, was in college when her parents divorced in 2014.

“It wasn’t a bitter divorce. More of a, ‘We’re not in love anymore’ situation,” Harrington, 32, tells TODAY.com, noting that from her perspective, the split was amicable. Their family ties, though rearranged, remained intact.

Her dad Ed Russell, 67, had been living with Harrington for years by the time he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease . A maintenance worker living on disability, he couldn’t afford to manage on his own, and Harrington, a self-described “daddy’s girl,” didn’t hesitate to step in.

Emily Harrington describes her dad, Ed Russell, as a gentle giant who "looks and acts like Santa Claus." Courtesy Emily Harrington

But life shifted once Russell’s memory be

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