After I do something the fog closes in behind me. I have to live in the moment. I am floating in time and space. I live in a little cloud, but clouds have gaps in them… A bit of blue sky, moments of lucidity and what people with dementia say in those moments is what they really think.” – Christine Bryden.
- The journey from diagnosis to death is a journey into the centre of self. People with dementia get so little respect, but they are examples of the Buddhist ideal of living completely in the moment. As the outer layers of cognition and eventually even emotion are stripped away, we are left in the spiritual.” – Christine Bryden.
Alzheimer’s creates a kind of friction that the family needs to be strong for. You have to hold onto things and know what is true in life.” – Candy Crowley.
What I feel is the truth of my experience whether I have Alzheimer’s or not.” – Sarah Bucklar.
Forget about the disease. Look at the person as if there is no disease first and ask yourself – What is going on for that person? What might they be experiencing and feeling as any person would? Then look at how the disease might complicate that experience for the person. That is when you can truly help. When you are seeing the person before the disease, you’re considering who they are first and their experience of their life as it is for them now in that moment.” – Sarah Bucklar.
- I had the good fortune of being around a number of Alzheimer’s patients in the last three years of my mother’s life. She was in a care facility for people just with memory loss issues. I found those people engaging and generous in ways that I had not imagined.” – James Rebhorn.
- The point that a person has dementia is only one aspect of the wholeness of who they are. It does not define nor negate the rest of who they are. It is just one part of a much bigger, fuller and more complex person.” – Sarah Bucklar.