Losing Herbie: Dad's slide into dementia
MSNBC debuts "Losing Herbie: Dad's slide into dementia" today on their website.
Please take a moment to view the poignant piece that revisits the life of an aging father and grandparent with dementia and the impact his life had upon the family that altered their lives to care for him:
LOSING HERBIE
To see the written article that accompanies the video, follow this link:
LOSING HERBIE ARTICLE
In case you missed the first documentary, you can view The Sandwich Generation here:
The Sandwich Generation
We welcome all of your comments about these pieces!
Please take a moment to view the poignant piece that revisits the life of an aging father and grandparent with dementia and the impact his life had upon the family that altered their lives to care for him:
LOSING HERBIE
To see the written article that accompanies the video, follow this link:
LOSING HERBIE ARTICLE
In case you missed the first documentary, you can view The Sandwich Generation here:
The Sandwich Generation
We welcome all of your comments about these pieces!
posted by Photomuse at 5:09 PM
5 Comments:
Wow. I must say that even at the age of 21 I was deeply touched by this video. I am a nursing student currently working at a nursing home with dementia patients and it is so powerful to be able to see the whole story of a person with dementia, not just who they have become due to their disease. I must give you and your wife all my respect for being his caregivers. What a powerful testament to his love and the love of your family. I am well aware that daily caregiving of dementia patients is a struggle, and could not imagine what it would be like to do it for someone I love. Thank you for this inspirational documentary.
Leigh Anne, thanks for these comments and it encourages us to continue this kind of work when we hear from people outside of the photo/media community. After all, this is who the work is really for and if we can make an impact on people, especially those who are working in the field that our story deals with, that is particularly heartening. Keep up your great work and the commitment to our elders. We are heading into a period where our society will need a Care Corps kind of initiative to deal with the burgeoning numbers of people who will need assistance in their daily lives, not just those with dementia and alzheimers. All the Best! Ed
I tear up everytime I watch the video. My father was diagnosed 9 years ago with Alzheimer's, and my mother has taken care of him, until he passed away with pancreatic cancer last Nov.. I have a brother and two sisters that live in distant cities and would come by a few times a years to help, but living in the same city I would come by 4 to 5 days a week to help. I not only saw my father deteriorating, but my mother as well. The only way I could keep my sanity was to delve into my work. I can appreciate the part of the video to realize when my nieces and nephews were afraid to be around their Grandfather, unless they had spent enough time around him to be relaxed. I tried not to feel some sort of resentment, but after so many years of trying to please him for what I had become, when I finally had gotten to a point beyond what he had done, he couldn't even appreciate it.
Ed, I have so much admiration for you, Julie and the kids. God bless, pray for a cure.
Your documentary is so great, thanks so much. Both my grandmas suffered some sort of dementia, one already passed, but the other has severe alzheimer, she has spent the last 2 years in bed. I see your film and I realize it is such a struggle for my parents (sandwich generation) and we children grew some resentment from the lack of attention, i understand your children totally. Its such a heartbreaking situation, no matter what you do, they just get worse. your film has me in tears ,
thanks for showing the world what it is like to have your loved one, but not really have him...
What a moving tribute to all the complex, layered aspects of caregiving to a parent, good and bad and in between. Adding anyone to a household sends the family mobile spinning out of balance, to use an analogy of author Melissa Fay Greene about adoption. To add a beloved parent in their waning years is especially daunting.
My father's life was slowly waning as I was around the ages of your children, and to have that experience was a life lesson -- rarely a welcome one at the time, mortality in your face when you are trying to enjoy being invincible! I learned to separate the love for the person from resentment of their grueling circumstances. My mother lived to be 88, rarely sick till the last year, and what a marvel it was to have an adult relationship with a parent. I constantly recalled how she cared for my father, as we cared for her. Both died at home, which we considered a major victory.
Many thanks for the honesty of the portrayal, and sharing the obvious love of all members of your family. The series of photos of Julie and Herbie throughout the years was especially touching.
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