My Life With Dementia
I have early-onset dementia — diagnosed at 61. Thanks to those who love me, I’ve lived joyously for almost a decade with the d-word. I call my dementia “Doña Quixote.” In my blog, book, and videos, I tell tales about her: the good, the mad, and the fugly.
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My blog posts
Aliya Saunders, 9 years old, guest post: “This is about my ouma and oupa and me”
Since Doña Quixote has had me locked up in dementia jail for many days during the past weeks, I did not have the wherewithal to do any writing. Fortunately, my granddaughter Aliya stood in for me by writing and illustrating this post. Aliya is 9, a great student, a voracious reader, a bodily-activity fanatic able […]
A RadioWest “Staff Pick”: short film series about Gerda and her family’s life with dementia
Featured photo: The RadioWest team, Elaine Clark, Kelsie Moore, Doug Fabrizio, Benjamin Bombard RadioWest and I go way back. In 2001, Doug Fabrizio interviewed me on his then brand-new “intelligent” show about my book of short stories that dealt with my family’s emigration from South Africa to Utah. Doug had thoroughly read my book (no, […]
Doña Quixote gets a makeover
Featured image: Cosmopolitan: skeleton makeup tutorial In August 2016, I signed the contract that granted Hachette Books the rights to publish Memory’s Last Breath: Field Notes on my Dementia. It came out in June 2017. During the writing of my book, I created a character, Doña Quixote, to represent my demented alter ego. On her […]