Caregivers making an impact on The Longest Day – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Care – www.OptimumSeniorCare.com
Jessica Harris and Michelle Davis both have lost close family members to Alzheimer’s disease. Read their stories of their family members own journeys of Alzheimer’s disease and what they are doing to raise critical awareness and funds for The Longest Day.
Caregivers making an impact on The Longest Day
Jessica Harris and Michelle Davis both have lost close family members to Alzheimer’s disease. Click the tabs below to read their stories of their family members own journeys of Alzheimer’s disease and what they are doing to raise critical awareness and funds for The Longest Day.
Story #1
By Jessica HarrisStory #2
Story told by Michelle Davis
My Grandmother ‘spicy’ personality and zest for life
By Jessica Harris – Caregiver & Granddaughter
When my dear friend Ylandus Roundy, Manager of The Longest Day, Alzheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter, asked me to participate in a volunteer event at her office, I immediately felt my paternal grandmother’s spirit calling me to action. In 2013, my wonderful grandmother passed from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
My grandmother was officially diagnosed in 2006, though like many families, we had missed some of the early signs years before due to a lack of awareness of the depths of the disease. We often attributed her less favorable behavior – such as her increased irritability in the evening – to her “spicy” personality. None of us knew that this was a symptom known in the medical world as sundowning or late–day confusion. We learned so much along her journey, particularly in my own household as my immediate family (my parents and I) were her primary caregivers. Though an experience unlike any other, we found ways to cherish the good times and the moments of clarity and to make new memories, and we gave her the best we could offer until her last day.
On behalf of my family, I have decided this year to lead a fundraising campaign and host a special family gathering to honor the fifth anniversary of my grandmother’s passing. She was a simple lady who valued family above all else, and though she lived to 82, we know Alzheimer’s robbed her of some of her glory years.
My grandmother was a first generation Sicilian American raised in New Orleans. As a result, our family carries a rich history of traditions, and we will infuse that culture into our campaign and event. Purple being the shade of choice for The Longest Day is befitting as it is one of the colors of Mardi Gras, representing justice.
It is my hope that there may one day be a cure, and finally break the curse of this dreadful disease.
http://www.optimumseniorcare.com/services/alzheimerscare.php