The son of Shirley Foo is preparing to say goodbye to his mother but remains frustrated knowing her final breath will likely occur in the Rocky View Hospital and not in her home as she had desired.

Nikki Foo says his mother, who has frontal lobe dementia, continues to smile and laugh despite losing the ability to communicate through words nearly a year ago.

The Foo family says the 62-year-old was removed from her home on the morning of August 20, 2016 under the Mental Health Act.

“My dad didn’t keep his house too clean and so they took her under Form 1 because the house was not in nice living conditions,” explained Nikki Foo. “Since then, I’ve been trying to get my mom back home. I live across the street. It’s clean. I’ve offered the hospital staff, AHS, home care to come in and look at the house but they’ve refused to.”

Foo adds his mother did not have any serious medical conditions, aside from the dementia, at the time of her hospitalization.

The son of the dementia patient appealed the decision to remove his mother from her home but he says his attempt was cast aside as Shirley Foo’s personal directive, stating her desire to spend her final days at home, was deemed invalid.

Shirley Foo has remained in hospital since leaving her home and 12 days ago she stopped eating. Her only source of nourishment during that time has been an intravenous ( IV) drip.

On Friday, Shirley Foo’s IV drip was removed.

“Her dementia is progressing at the rate where she would not have long to live,” said Nikki Foo of the doctor’s assessment. “If that's the case, we're taking up a hospital bed. Why don't we move her back home? It makes sense for everyone.”

Social Services will not allow the dementia patient to return home as they deemed the residence to be too messy and found  she was not receiving appropriate care. Officials say the family was charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life.

The Office of the Public Guardian has been granted guardianship of Shirley Foo.

Nikki Foo was charged as he is the owner of his parents’ house but says he could take his mother into his own home, which is situated across the street from her house, during her final days. Nikki is willing to make any necessary renovations or adjustments that social services deems necessary  to his home in order to facilitate the move.

“What I’m hoping for is for my mom to be at home, to spend her final days, or even weeks, at home,” said Nikki. “Despite whatever issues they have with my dad or myself, there is no harm that we can do to my mom. They have given up hope on her. They know that once they remove the IV she has days to live because she’s not eating, she has not eaten anything in 12 days.”

“I’m hoping and hopeful that when she goes home, in a home environment, that she’ll be happier and maybe stimulate her hunger and her desire to eat once again.”

Alberta Health Services did not comment on the specifics of the Foo case but provided the following statement regarding end-of-life care involving patients under legal guardianship of the province.

“All care decisions are made jointly by physicians, other members of the care team and the public guardian. End-of-life care includes a number of medical interventions to ensure the patient's comfort and well-being."

The Office of the Public Guardian will have the final say on where Shirley Foo spends her final days.

With files from CTV's Chris Epp