Caught Off Guard

With his partner of 34 years in a nursing home, a court order preventing him from entering the facility and two weeks to get out of his house, Lon Watts sold his wedding ring to pay for gas to get to his mother’s place in Oklahoma.

Watts never expected to be in this position, because he always thought of himself as part of his partner Jim Heath’s family.

But after Heath was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, his sister stepped in and took guardianship from Watts, who is now unable to see or talk to Heath.

After the story of Heath and Watts recently made national news, Watts has renewed his fight to bring Heath home and launched a legal fund, but the fight could take years.

In 2006, Heath began to show signs of Alzheimer’s Disease. The next year, Watts retired to take care of his partner full-time.

Watts thought he had all the paperwork in place — wills naming each other beneficiaries, mutual powers-of-attorney.

As the Alzheimer’s progressed, Watts said Heath was comfortable in his surroundings and never wandered. But he kept bells on the doors just in case Heath decided to leave the house at night alone.

In 2011, Watts noticed large blisters on Heath’s foot. He noticed swelling elsewhere.

“He had love handles where he never had them before,” he said.

He called 911, but paramedics refused to take him to the hospital.

“I couldn’t get him to a doctor,” he said.

But when the blisters opened, he got him to the emergency room, tricking him to leave the house by telling him they were visiting a friend.

From there, Heath was transferred to Pittsburg Nursing Center.

That’s when things turned ugly.

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Caught Off Guard

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Lon Watts, Texas Gay Man, Says Partner Jim Heath's Sister Forced Them Apart, Evicted Him