Dementia Memoir

As a child, Maggie Downs often doubted that she would ever possess the courage to visit the destinations her mother dreamed of one day seeing. "You are braver than you think," her mother always insisted. That statement would guide her as, over the course of one year, Downs backpacked through seventeen countries - visiting all the places her mother, struck with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, could not visit herself - encountering some of the world's most striking locales while confronting the slow loss of her mother.

On a family vacation in 2009, Dr. Renée Brown Harmon felt the first jolt of fear that something might be wrong. How could her husband, Harvey, a highly intelligent physician, marathon runner, and devoted father, be struggling to keep up with their guide’s simple instructions or unable to do simple math to calculate their daughter’s age? The heartbreaking truth was confirmed nine months later when he was diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease at age fifty.

In 2003, England won the Rugby World Cup. Steve Thompson was there, in England's front row, at the heart of the match and at the heart of the scrum—one of sport's most destructive, repetitive impacts. But the triumphs came at a cost. When rugby union turned professional, Steve was plunged into a game where raw power meant everything. Today, he remembers nothing about playing in that final. In his words, watching the tape back is like watching a ghost.

In My Two Elaines, author Marty Schreiber, former governor of Wisconsin, watches his beloved wife, Elaine, gradually transform from the woman he fell in love with in high school, and who diligently supported his political career, to the Elaine who knows she is declining and can’t remember how to cook a meal, and finally to the Elaine who no longer recognizes Marty or their children. Beyond sincere, practical advice, My Two Elaines gives the listener permission to feel the full spectrum of emotions, including humor, even in the face of this relentless illness.

While fighting an aggressive brain tumor, Deirdre must care for her mother with advanced Alzheimer’s, raise her teenage daughter, and help her husband chase a new dream - opening a barbecue restaurant. Her greatest defense is her sense of humor in this tender memoir chronicling life struggles that are often tragic - but can still be very funny. Grab a tissue and take a ride as one batty broad battles her way through the tragicomic trials of her most perilous adventure yet - brain cancer.

The Last Ocean is Gerrard’s investigation into what dementia does to both the person who lives with the condition and to their caregivers. Dementia is now one of the leading causes of death in the West, and this necessary book will offer both comfort and a map to those walking through it. While she begins with her father’s long slip into forgetting, Gerrard expands to examine dementia writ large. Gerrard gives raw but literary shape both to the unimaginable loss of one’s own faculties, as well as to the pain of their loved ones.

In Get in the Boat, Darlene Fuchs shares the powerful and poignant story of her father Richard's experience as a caregiver to his wife Gail during her decline into dementia. This memoir, based on the journals of Richard Sonnichsen, is a heart-wrenching yet inspiring exploration of the enduring power of love, faith, and resilience in the face of life's most difficult challenges.

Happily married and running a successful business, Peter Berry's life changed when, at the age of 50, he was given a terminal diagnosis of early-onset dementia. Since that day, he has learned to live with his very own 'dementia monster'. From depression and suicide attempts through to his determination to confront his dementia, Peter has embarked on a series of challenges to show that 'life isn't over with dementia, it's just a little different'.

My Disappearing Mother: A Memoir of Magic and Loss is far more than a memoir on the devastation that comes with dementia, a cognitive impairment that affects fifty-five million people worldwide. Finnamore beautifully chronicles her mother's rich and varied life journey, from her birth in Puerto Rico during the height of the Depression to ferrying to the United States, in hopes of a better life. On U.S. soil, her mother, Bunny, started working as a performer for enlisted men, then became a secretary, and eventually a professional clairvoyant.

At just past 70, Alex Witchel’s smart, adoring, ultra-capable mother began to exhibit undeniable signs of dementia. Witchel reacted as she’d been raised: If something was broken, she would fix it. But as medical reality undid that hope, she retreated to the kitchen, trying to reclaim the mother who was disappearing in plain sight, by cooking the comforting foods that were her mother’s signature. Reproducing the perfect meat loaf was no panacea, but it helped a grieving daughter come to terms with her predicament, the growing phenomenon of "ambiguous loss" - loss of a beloved one who lives on.

It’s morning at Meadow Brook Nursing Home. During the last 10 months, this has been my mother’s abode. Most days, I feel it is mine, too. Life, as I have known it, is a blur. Alzheimer’s has taken mother from herself, her family, and her friends. It has demanded a grit and grace in our everyday lives beyond human comprehension. I know that I must tell her story - which ultimately is my story, too - with hope that it may bring a degree of peace to the hearts of those who have walked, or will walk, the same road.

For the first time, journalist and historian David Talbot turns inward in this intimate journey through the life-changing year following his stroke, a year that turned his life upside down, and ultimately, saved him. In his signature voice and with powerful storytelling, Talbot examines the physical, emotional, and psychological impact his stroke has had on his identity. Along the way Talbot offers listeners insider stories on the wild early days of internet journalism, insights into the new tech culture, the down and dirty of Hollywood, and much more.

Mom’s Gone Missing is not a how-to book. It’s a here’s-what-unfolded book, a story of a daughter’s experience with a father’s decade-long Alzheimer’s journey and a mother’s lightning fast dementia decline and both of their deaths.

Andrea struggles to mourn a man who is still alive as she witnesses her father decline into the depths of Alzheimer's. Denial and devastation color her life when she learns her father, Richard, a recently retired surgeon, is diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of 67. Her dream to grow closer to him is crushed as the reality of his disease is fully realized. Andrea, a mother of three young children, learns to balance motherhood with daughterhood as she grapples to accept her father's fate.

This is the story of Carolyn’s mother, her dementia, and how they navigated her journey together. Your loved one may not force feed stuffed animals vanilla pudding or burn their neighbor’s mail like Fay did, but if you’re living through the sad realities of your loved one’s slow and tortuous farewell, this book will help you find solace as you deal with it realistically and with a heart at peace.

Am 4. Juni 2019 fährt der ehemalige ÖFB-Fußballnationaltrainer Didi Constantini auf der Brenner-Autobahn entgegen der Fahrtrichtung und verursacht einen Geisterfahrerunfall. Dieser offenbart ein "Demenz-Drama", in dessen Zentrum mit Didi Constantini ein ehemals gefeierter Star und Liebling der Sportwelt steht - und mit ihm seine Familie. Ein knappes Jahr später fasst sich Tochter Johanna ein Herz und beginnt die Geschichte dieser Demenz niederzuschreiben.

Leaving London to return home to rural South Wales, Robyn finds that it's her old life - same teddy bears resting on her pillow, their bodies tucked under the duvet; same view of the garages behind which she'd had her first cigarette and first kiss - but so much has changed. Her dad, the proud, charmingly intelligent self-made man who made people laugh, was in the grip of early onset Alzheimer's. His brilliant mind, which saw him building power stations and literally bringing light into the lives of others, had succumbed to darkness.

At first, Simon’s beloved father, Ted, suffered sudden bad moods and forgetfulness. Then the diagnosis: Alzheimer’s. Ted was disappearing from the family, but Simon wanted to hold on to him. While music could bring him back temporarily - the video of the two of them singing along to Ted’s favorite song was a hit around the world - Ted could no longer tell his story. This is that story.

National Book Award winner Jonathan Kozol is best known for his 50 years of work among our nation's poorest and most vulnerable children. Now, in the most personal book of his career, he tells the story of his father's life and work as a nationally noted specialist in disorders of the brain and his astonishing ability, at the onset of Alzheimer's disease, to explain the causes of his sickness and then to narrate, step by step, his slow descent into dementia.

At the age of 53, Tony walks away from a life of journalism and into an unknown future dogged by self-doubt and financial worry. June is 48 years old then, a writer and a teacher, and over the following nine years she watches as her husband gradually changes - in interests, goals, and behavior - until Tony has a sudden fall, ending their life as they have known it.