If I Could Remember: Bears & Brains & Caring For My Mother

When Alzheimer’s begins to rob her mother’s cognitive abilities, Donna frantically searches for options to slow the progression of the disease. In the process, she explores the complexities inherent in all mother-daughter relationships. Amidst the stress of caregiving, she loses her sense of self-worth, neglects self-care and struggles with negative self-talk. To cope, she creates a fictional world of teddy bears at various stages of Alzheimer’s. She weaves their stories with her own caregiving experiences, and with excerpts from her mother’s journals and newspaper columns. This heartwarming and honest account reveals the physical and mental changes faced by Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers, and how, by losing herself in caregiving, Donna ultimately finds herself.