AceShowbiz -

It did not take long for Ronald Reagan's family to issue a statement over "Reagan", a comedy based on the former U.S. president's story. Michael Reagan and Patti Davis, Reagan's son and daughter, thought making fun about their father's illness was not something to laugh about.

It was just Wednesday, April 27 that Will Ferrell was announced as the actor to portray Reagan who begins second term as he falls into dementia. An ambitious intern is tasked with convincing the commander-in-chief that he is an actor playing the president in a movie.

"What an [outrage]," Michael tweeted on Wednesday. "Alzheimer's is not a joke. It kills. You should be ashamed, all of you." He added later, "Alzheimer's is not a comedy!"

Patti was more specific in her protest, penning an open letter on her website. "Perhaps you have managed to retain some ignorance about Alzheimer's and other versions of dementia. Perhaps if you knew more, you would not find the subject humorous," she wrote. "Alzheimer's doesn't care if you are President of the United States or a dockworker. It steals what is most precious to a human being - memories, connections, the familiar landmarks of a lifetime that we all come to rely on to hold our place secure in this world and keep us linked to those we have come to know and love."

She continued, "I watched as fear invaded my father's eyes - this man who was never afraid of anything. I heard his voice tremble as he stood in the living room and said, 'I don't know where I am.' I watched helplessly as he reached for memories, for words, that were suddenly out of reach and moving farther away. For ten long years he drifted - past the memories that marked his life, past all that was familiar ...and mercifully, finally past the fear. There was laughter in those years, but there was never humor."

President Reagan died at the age of 93 in his Bel-Air, California, home on June 5, 2004 due to pneumonia with complication from Alzheimer's Disease.