ABOUT

My Story…Could easily be your story…

A family member had dementia! When a diagnosis is given you simply do not know what to do, what to think, where to go, or what to say. Seemingly, when a doctor provides melancholic medical news such as Cancer, they generally sit with you, they may even hold your hand, provide Kleenex for your tears/nose, offer any optimistic medical advances, and provide morale and support. Additionally, you often leave the office with written materials to read about your medical condition and options. Typically the experience is the antithesis with a dementia diagnosis. When you leave the doctor’s office with a dementia diagnosis; what extensive information are you told? Are you medically guided? What are the next steps? Any resources provided unto you? Most importantly, how did you feel and how were you comforted? In my book entitled The Race of Dementia; my opening chapter deals with the many questions I pondered and how they were laced with no answers. My grandmother and my mother offered me no explanation other than my great-grandmother was “senile.” Unbeknownst to myself at the time, my great-grandmother, was experiencing what I now believe to be Alzheimer’s dementia. During this not so long ago era and perhaps even now, people quickly conclude one is either senile or crazy when it comes to dementia. Neither of the two words accurately describes a person living with the illness. Join me in the discovery of dementia and let me be the first to tell you; dementia is not a disease!