Tiny and Tadashi Tadani

The trouble began when Tiny’s father Tadashi Tadani, who suffers from dementia, had soiled his pants and washed them in his bathroom sink, leaving the faucet running for about four hours straight.

The elder Tadani did not comprehend the havoc he had just created.

In a span of five years, the father and grandfather that Tiny and Taylor were fond of hanging out with morphed into a stranger who turned paranoid, accusatory and vicious with his cane. The acceleration of his disease had progressively taken a turn for the worse. So much so, that Taylor had to lock his bedroom door at nights for his safety and well-being.

For three years, Tiny desperately tried to place his father in a foster home. “But the problem was that Dad’s healthcare provider kept giving me false information, saying his retirement and Social Security of $2,100 per month exceeded Medicaid’s income requirements by $100, so he didn’t qualify. I had no recourse. My friend recommended I attend a Medicaid seminar at Ala Moana Hotel. I called 593-8885 and went to the seminar conducted by Okura and Associates just for the hell of it,” explains Tiny.

“Within the first five minutes, I learned that it is not about how much a retiree makes but rather how many assets he or she possesses that determines Medicaid qualification.”

The elder Tadani had zero assets. The law firm saw desperation in the young caregiver’s eyes and immediately referred him to Azil, a case management company. Azil felt empathy for Tiny when they witnessed how grumpy and difficult Tadashi was, and found him a care home that day.

Tiny’s dream to place his father in a ’round-the-clock nursing home became a reality last week when the 83-year-old was accepted into a Kaneohe facility — in the same town where he raised his five children.

Tiny Tadani’s nightmare has a happy ending after he threw in the towel on caregiving for his dear ol’ dad for good. With each passing sunrise and sunset, the Tadani family now enjoys quality moments as the patriarch of their home lives in a good place, with son Tiny only a stone’s throw away.