The Mythical Bill: A Neurological Memoir

Chronology

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chronology november 14, 1920: William (Bill) Joseph McAuliffe—Mc + Olaf, post-Viking invasion of Ireland, with red hair—is born, the third of four children of John H. McAuliffe and Margaret Cronin. 1926: William (Bill) Joseph McAuliffe, my father, undergoes a tonsillectomy at the age of six. 1942: My father enters the navy. 1944: My father develops spasmodic torticollis. november 24, 1954: I am born. november 25, 1954: One day after I am born, Harold C. Voris, Doctor of the Year in 1967 at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago, performs radical surgery on my father for spasmodic torticollis. november 27, 1954: Three days after I am born, my father threatens to kill himself and is committed to the psychiatric ward, 51b, at the Hines Veterans Administration Hospital, to which he is removed from Mercy. december 31, 1954: Bill is released from Hines VA Hospital. 1965: Bill begins to go demented—so-called “mental torticollis” commences slowly and inexorably. june 16, 1975: Bill is committed to Hines VA Hospital, Ward 51b. august, 1975: William Joseph McAuliffe dies at Hines VA Hospital. Exact time and day of death unknown. may 6, 1979: Brien J. McAuliffe, oldest son of Bill, is killed in a motorcycle accident. ...