I have had lots of time over the last few months to reflect on Mum’s death and my daughter’s birth, and it has struck me, coming as they did within 4 weeks of each other, how much similarity there is between start and end of life care. This circularity of life has been both comforting […]
*Featured image: Samples of brain tissue, frozen at -150 degrees celsius. On 23rd August, co-founder Ali Turnbull visited BRACE and the South West Dementia Brain Bank. Here she describes her visit. Meeting BRACE While we always try to make sure that each round of Remembering Not to Forget grants are used to fund a wide […]
I had intended to share this blog (initially written last year) on Friday 1st September, to mark both the start of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and the start of my maternity leave. But 1st September ended up being a far more significant date as it’s the day that our lovely Ma passed away. As anyone who […]
It’s amazing how quickly things change. At the start of May I went home for a typical and unremarkable weekend. Mum was quiet but seemed happy and although slow and a bit doddery on her feet we walked to the park and threw her ball around. One night the care lady came while we were […]
It’s been years since I’ve cried in front of Mum. My main role when I’m at home is chief cheerer-uper. Her mood is so fragile, and emotional memory so much stronger than factual memory, that any seemingly small upset can linger for ages. It’s impossible to cheer someone up when they can’t remember the reassurance […]
Mum used to have lots of stories. We grew up hearing about her childhood in Africa, boarding school in England, training to be a nurse, how she met our Dad, us as small children to name but a few regular topics. For a while, when the here and now started to slip away, the past […]