Those with dementia are still people and they still have stories and they still have character and they're all individuals and they're all unique. And they just need to be interacted with on a human level.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When you deal with a person who's experiencing dementia, you can see where they're struggling with knowledge. You can see what they forget completely, what they forget but they know what they once knew. You can tell how they're trying to remember.
Somehow, knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories, to think through certain issues as only a novel can do, to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.
You can't converse with Alzheimer's sufferers in the way you do with others; the dialogue tends to go round in circles.
I think everyone knows someone who's battling with dementia or caring for a relative affected by it. I've been staggered by how commonplace it is.
Alzheimer's caregivers are heroes.
I think it would be interesting if old people got anti-Alzheimer's disease where they slowly began to recover other people's lost memories.
I hate Alzheimer's. It is one of the most awful things because, here is a loved one, this is the woman or man that you have loved for 20, 30, 40 years, and suddenly, that person is gone. They're gone. They are gone.
With Alzheimer's patients, you have to be very careful what you say when you're looking at them over their bed. Because once in a while, they understand it.
I'm in awe of people out there who deal with Alzheimer's, because they have to deal with death 10 times over, year after year.
None of us wants to be reminded that dementia is random, relentless, and frighteningly common.