from Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune,

Walk through the main floor of Jill and Stan Mikita's home in the western suburbs and you will see very little evidence that the man who owns it was one of the greatest players the sport of hockey ever has known.

Other than a portrait of the Blackhawks legend and an autographed photo of Mikita and lifelong friend Bobby Hull on the family room wall, there are few mementos indicating that it is the home of someone whose statue stands outside the United Center.

"Stan always said he didn't need things on the wall or plaques on the shelves because he had his memories," Jill Mikita says.

Now, those memories are gone.

Stan Mikita has been diagnosed with suspected dementia with Lewy body, a brain disorder that can strip those with it of memory, cause hallucinations, sleep disorders and often, though not in Mikita's case, Parkinson's disease. His decline has been steep and sudden....

"His mind is completely gone," Jill, Stan's wife of 52 years, says while sitting on the sun porch as one of her grandsons fishes in the pond out back. "I don't like to use that term but there's no other way to describe it."

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